Business Week features an article that says Sony BMG drops DRM. Peere pressure or not, I don’t care, I am just very happy about this. That’s the last Giant of the 4 to drop DRM.
Will Apple now drop their DRM so that I can listen to the songs I purchased (and I did purchase some, indeed!), everywhere I like?
But Sony won’t make their whole collection DRM free:
Sony BMG, a joint venture of Sony (SNE) and Bertelsmann, will make at least part of its collection available without so-called digital rights management, or DRM, software some time in the first quarter, according to people familiar with the matter.
Sony apparently noticed, that there can also be positive sides to offering music online:
Sony has been experimenting with DRM-free songs for about six months. The company began giving away DRM-free promotional downloads for recording artists that sell less than 100,000 units, and at least one artist gained mainstream exposure through the effort.
Given that and the Pepsi Promo I blogged about earlier, I think we can savely look forward to 2008 being the year, when the music industry finally awakes and joins the digital era.
Wo ich sonst so bin...