Another major label is making available a new track via Yahoo!'s US music service as an unprotected MP3 file. And about time too.
As everyone knows, in general the major record companies, in contrast to the independent sector, have resisted making music available in digital formats that do not have DRM technology installed that, in theory at least, restricts the use and distribution of the track. However, a growing number of people across the industry are arguing that use of DRM does not stop the illegal sharing of music (because it only takes one user to crack a DRM file or rip a track from CD and that song is then available via file sharing networks) and at the same time it annoys the record label's legitimate customers and gives companies like Apple, who control DRM technology, too much power in the digital music space. Actually, pretty much everyone I meet in the music industry these days, including major label people, seem to be arguing just that - which makes you wonder who it is, exactly, who is making all four major record companies continue to pursue such an blatantly self-defeating strategy, and why exactly their shareholders let them get away with it.
Anyway, one of the people who is particularly vocal about the need for the majors to end their obsession with DRM is Yahoo! Music's David Goldberg, who previously persuaded SonyBMG to make a Jessica Simpson track available as an MP3 in a special 'personalised track' promotion, and Disney's Hollywood Records who made a track by US pop star Jesse McCartney available as an MP3. In the latest Yahoo! exclusive promotion, EMI's Blue Note Records will make the latest single from Norah Jones available in the MP3 format, while two tracks from the major's Christian rock act Relient K are also available as MP3s.
The Wall Street Journal says that Blue Note's General Manager Zach Hochkeppel calls the Norah Jones MP3 initiative "an experiment", adding that it is thought that, even if the single track is extensively shared over the net, most of Jones' older fanbase will still buy the full album once it is released, so any sharing of the MP3 would, in fact, act as viral marketing for the new long player. Hochkeppel also says that there was "general resistance" to the plan among senior players at EMI, but that they were ultimately persuaded that they needed to test new approaches to digital sales.
The Journal also quotes Ted Cohen, the former Senior VP Of Digital Development at EMI US, and now an independent digital media consultant, who welcomes the Yahoo! initiative as "a nice first step", but who adds his former employer has not gone far enough in this domain, adding: "We need to see some albums available as MP3".
And he's right you know. To quote the aforementioned Goldberg when discussing DRM at an industry event earlier this year: "It just isn't working. It's not solving piracy. It's not helping consumers".