Follow-ups to Jobs and DRM

Lots of responses around the Web today to Jobs' statement on DRM posted below. First of all, EMI -- third largest record company in world behind Universal and Sony-BMG -- is now actively moving towards open mp3, says the WSJ and AP. This is a promising sign in the sense that the major label dam on open formats seems to be breaking. Also interesting is that the locus of much of the decision-making on this issue has shifted strongly towards Europe: EMI is based in the UK, while Sony-BMG is a Japan/Germany split and Universal is French (fully owned by Videndi). Warner Music is barely a proper Major anymore given that it split off from parent Time Warner in the last two years and is now a stand-alone music company.

NEW YORK - Music company EMI Group PLC - home of The Rolling Stones and Coldplay - has been talking with online retailers about possibly selling its entire digital music catalog in MP3 format without copy protection, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing numerous people familiar with the matter.

The MP3 format, which can be freely copied and played on virtually any device, would allow consumers to play music purchased from any online store on any digital music device. Currently, music purchased at Apple Inc.’s iTunes Store, for example, is wrapped in Apple’s proprietary version of Digital Rights Management technology known as ”FairPlay” and can only be played on the company’s iPod devices. Songs purchased from rival online stores that carry different DRM technology cannot be played on iPods. That has caused some to wonder whether it might be hampering sales.

According to the people familiar with the matter, London-based EMI asked the retailers to submit proposals by Thursday telling the company what size advance payments they would offer in exchange for the right to sell EMI’s music as MP3s, the Journal reported.

Speaking of Warner Music, its chief exec has come out strongly against Jobs' statement. Says the FT:

Edgar Bronfman, Warner Music's chief executive, on Thursday slapped down Steve Jobs' suggestion that record companies do away with copyright protections for digital music in order to spur the market’s growth.

Mr Bronfman, speaking to investors as Warner announced its earnings, called Mr Jobs’s argument “completely without logic or merit” and said his company was committed to the continued use of copyright protections, known as digital rights management, in the same way that software makers and film studios safeguard their intellectual property.

The Economist has a decent piece on the story too, concluding thus:

The music giants are trying DRM-free downloads. Lots of smaller labels already sell music that way. Having seen which way the wind is blowing, Mr Jobs now wants to be seen not as DRM’s defender, but as a consumer champion who helped in its downfall. Wouldn’t it lead to a surge in piracy? No, because most music is still sold unprotected on CDs, people wishing to steal music already can do so. Indeed, scrapping DRM would probably increase online-music sales by reducing confusion and incompatibility. With the leading online store, Apple would benefit most. Mr Jobs’s argument, in short, is transparently self-serving. It also happens to be right.