Well, sort of. Yahoo announced today that they would be the first to offer a track to buy that has no DRM attached to it. Digital Rights Management is currently integrated within the majority of legally purchased songs on the internet, and is generally frowned upon by the general public. This download though, will be in mp3 format, allowing it to be played on any mp3 player or even ripped to a CD.
Major record labels have argued that DRM is needed to protect music from being distributed illegally, and blames file sharing for the decline in CD sales for the past few years (and not the lack of investment into new talent). Speaking on his blog Ian Rogers from Yahoo! wrote "Our position is simple: DRM doesn't add any value for the artist, label (who are selling DRM-free music every day - the Compact Disc), or consumer, the only people it adds value to are the technology companies who are interested in locking consumers to a particular technology platform."
While companies like Wippit and eMusic offer DRM free music, it is often from small indie labels, this is the first time that a song has been offered by a major label. Even more exciting (ok, maybe not with Ms Simpson) is the fact that the song can be personalised to have your name said at the beginning of the song.
Could this be the beginning of a new musical revolution? Probably not, the music industry is too busy suing grannies, or penning a new contract for an overpaid hip-hop star to realise that this is what consumers want, but maybe, just maybe, there is hope.
View: Jessica For You View: Yahoo! Music Blog
