More DRM-Free Major Label Music Sneaks onto iTunes

Nov 27, 2008

The world's three largest record labels have been negotiating to offer their music without DRM in the iTunes music store for the first time ever, according to Cnet sources who couldn't confirm that the labels had agreed to ditch digital rights management (DRM) altogether. At least they're talking about it.

And one of these labels, Warner Music Group, appears to be doing more than just talking. Some of its music has already appeared in the iTunes store in DRM-free form. Could the rest be soon to follow?

Some had speculated that Apple would announce DRM-free music from all four major labels on Tuesday, when it updates the store with music releases, because new albums are generally released on Tuesdays. And when the iTunes Plus area of iTunes briefly disappeared yesterday, those rumors intensified.

However, Tuesday came and went without any such announcement. We contacted Apple, Sony/BMG, UMG and WMG at around noon EST on Wednesday to see if they have anything to tell us about this and will post an update if or when we hear back. It'd be nice if labels would stop trying to use DRM as a bargaining chip to try to force Steve Jobs budge on song pricing, album bundling and other issues; that way, all of the music in the iTunes store would be available in the unprotected AAC format, causing fewer consumer headaches and widening the hardware compatibility of iTunes-purchased music.

In the meantime, we searched the iTunes store for music from all four major labels to see what sort of DRM-free tracks are available there at this point. Here's how they stacked up:

EMI

Unsurprisingly, every EMI song we searched for was available without DRM from iTunes. The smallest major became the first to sell its catalog in iTunes Plus back in June of 2007 and its music still appears to comprise the majority of the iTunes store's DRM-free "iTunes Plus" section.

Sony/BMG

Sony/BMG does not appear to be on-board with DRM-free music on iTunes at this point, although it allows Amazon to sell its music as unprotected MP3s. Many have cited a cryptic post on 9to5mac as evidence that the label is already uploading DRM-free versions of its songs into iTunes Plus. If so, we haven't seen any evidence of that yet. Macrumors claimed Sony artist Edgar Winters had DRM-free tracks in iTunes, but the tracks appear to be from other labels. None of the other Sony artists I looked for were available in the DRM-free format either, but that could change.

Universal Music Group

Universal began experimenting selling DRM-free music on Amazon fairly early on, and like the other majors, still lets Amazon sell its music in the unprotected MP3 format. We haven't found evidence of it offering the same deal to iTunes at this point. Distorted Loop claimed to have found Universal artist Rakim's The 18th Letter/The Book of Life in iTunes Plus, but it wasn't there today. And none of the other artists I searched for had their UMG albums for sale without DRM. As far as I can tell, UMG isn't onboard either yet, although the Rakim blip is encouraging.

Warner Music Group

WMG is an interesting case. Like Sony and Universal, Warner already allows Amazon to sell its catalog without DRM. And despite a lack of any public announcement, some of its albums are currently available in iTunes without DRM too, as first pointed out by Macrumors poster Doodledoo. But many other WMG albums are still protected by Fairplay, including albums by Madonna, Eric Clapton and The Ramones.

However, WMG artists Crosby Stills & Nash, Gnarls Barkley, the Velvet Underground and Neil Young each have at least some DRM-free music from their WMG-era albums for sale in iTunes. Some of these songs are not listed as being in iTunes Plus. But when you search for them or see them in the Genius sidebar, the plus sign appears next to them to indicate their DRM-free nature, which we confirmed. Of the three remaining majors to go DRM-free on iTunes, WMG appears already to be taking the plunge.

To demonstrate the difference between DRM-ed and DRM-free music in the iTunes music store, here's the Info screen for a DRM-ed song, Empire State's (excellent) song "Why Climb The Highest Mountain":

And here's the Info screen for a non-DRMed Neil Young song I just purchased. Young is on Warner Bros., a division of Warner Music Group, but his song is available without Apple's Fairplay DRM at iTunes Plus bit rate of 256 Kbps:

To determine whether a given track is available in DRM-free form in the iTunes store, look for the little plus sign in the search results:

Source: Wired Blog