Takes its battle with iTunes to another level beginning August 21st.It's no secret that Universal Music Group and other record labels have long been chafing under the pricing reins that Steve Jobs has mandated in his Apple iTunes digital music download store, but now it seems the fight has evolved from a war of words to a war of action. Record labels have been upset for quite some time over Jobs insistence that music with standard DRM restrictions maintain a 99cent pricing threshold as they want to offer variable pricing for different artist album and song selections. They'd like to see more popular content to be sold at prices higher than the current standard, and less popular fare to perhaps be offered at a discount. Jobs is adamant that the pricing structure remains as is to ensure iTunes popularity with customers as well as to provide a continued viable alternative against illegal file-sharing. Well, a recent press release points to an interesting strategy on the part of Universal Music Group to take its squabble with iTunes to the next level. Rhapsody, long an afterthought in people's quest for digital music purchases, though popular among colleges and universities in their bid to stamp out illegal music file-sharing, will soon begin a six-month test of a new service offering for sale thousands of DRM-free albums and tracks from artists on Universal Music Group. The first streaming on-demand music subscription service to offer unlimited access to its entire library of digital music for a flat monthly fee, Rhapsody will now be the first alternative to iTunes Plus digital music download store to offer DRM-free music for sale. Between August 21st and the end of January, Rhapsody is making a wide selection of music from UMG's digital music catalog available for purchase in DRM-free 256 kbps MP3 format, including albums and songs from many of the company's top-selling artists, including 50 Cent, Amy Winehouse, The Pussycat Dolls, The Police and Johnny Cash among others. DRM-free music from UMG will be available for the same price as protected files -- 89 cents per song for Rhapsody subscribers and 99 cents for non-subscribers. "Real is committed to giving consumers more control over where and how they enjoy the music they buy online," said Rob Glaser, chairman and chief executive officer of RealNetworks, owner of the Rhapsody music service. "We think online music is moving to a DRM-free model for music purchases, and commend UMG for launching this initiative." Since 2004, RealNetworks has actively called attention to the issue of interoperability and the need to let consumers purchase music downloads that can be played on any MP3 player. Earlier this year, Real called on the recording industry to directly address these compatibility problems and help grow the market for legal music downloads by allowing digital music retailers to sell their music without DRM. Now surely their motive is more than consumer choice, and is at least partially tinted with the desire to lure customers with the most popular portable MP3 player around -- the ipod, but at least their efforts are in step with consumer concerns, which are interoperability and pricing. Either way, increased selection of DRM-free music and an alternative to iTunes is great news indeed for us all. Looking for more stuff to watch or download?
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But I am not holding my breath until I actually see that happen! The music industry is not doing this out of the goodness of their hearts..rather it is because they are getting hammered on a daily basis because so many people have switched to free p2p services. Time will tell if this works, however.
But I STILL say until they get reasonable with prices....they will only have half the battle won with removing DRM....PRICE is another thing that consumers want to see...but they want LOWER PRICES...not HIGHER PRICES...as the music industry does.
Until that happens, I don't look for the status quo to change all that much.
However....it IS a step in the right direction.
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