Apple tells content partners it can soon offer DRM-free music

According to the MacRumors site, iTunes’ content partners will soon have the option of offering DRM-free music and music videos.

Perhaps in another bid to assuage European anti-trust concerns, Apple sent out a brief memo to its content partners that starting next month they will be able to offer DRM-free music and music videos.

The memo reads:

Many of you have reached out to iTunes to find out how you can make your songs available higher quality and DRM-free. Starting next month, iTunes will begin offering higher-quality, DRM-free music and DRM-free music videos to all customers.

Now whether or not they will have to charge a 30 cent premium as is the case for EMI’s DRM-free selections isn’t mentioned but, I’m sure they won’t be rolling out the door for the standard 99 cent fare.

Either way, being that iTunes is reported to control some 70% of the digital music download market the news is welcome to say the least as it may spur other music download sites to follow suit and further convince record companies that the future really does lie in DRM-free offerings. Or perhaps it will be the Europeans who continue to force their hand due to objections over the way that Apple’s iTunes DRM locks users in and prevents them from playing content on other portable music player devices.

via [MacRumors]

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