Sony BMG Will Sell Music Without Copyright Protection
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Sony BMG is the last major record company to do away with the programs, which prevent illegal copying and distribution of songs on the Internet.
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It's the end of an era Amazon.com has now secured the right to sell DRM-free music from all four major labels, snagging Sony BMG.â¦
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Sony BMG has settled with the Federal Trade Commission, agreeing to reimburse consumers up to $150 for damage to the computers caused by the label's use of rootkits to prevent piracy of its discs.
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The patent is for a digital-watermarking technology that could be used to protect the rights of content owners even when digital music is distributed without DRM protection.
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Sony is the last of the four big record labels that have abandoned digital rights management software that limits how many times copies can be made of digital music.
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Appleâs chief said record companies should allow songs to be sold online without anticopying software, in part because the technology does not stop piracy.
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The U.S. Federal Trade Commission  said on Tuesday Sony BMG agreed to settle charges that it  included potentially damaging anti-piracy software in some of  its CDs without telling consumers.
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NEW YORK (Billboard) - In a bold move to pave the way for  more widespread licensing of music publishing rights, EMI Music  Publishing and Sony BMG Music Entertainment have entered an  umbrella agreement that sets working guidelines for clearing  rights to new digital music delivery opportunities on phones,  PCs, digital cable systems and emerging physical  configurations.
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Social music site Last.fm signs a deal with the Sony BMG record label to offer its catalogue of music.
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Amazon.com has added songs from Warner Music Group to the range it sells as MP3 files without DRM (digital rights management), the companies said Friday.The online retailer&#160;launched its music download service&#160;in September and now offers 2.9 million songs without copy prevention technology, including tracks from Warner, EMI, Universal, and 33,000 independent record labels -- although it has still not won over Sony BMG, the only one of the music majors still insisting on the use of DRM.Warner said it also planned to offer album bundles including exclusive tracks through the Amazon service.The move is a blow to Apple&#39;s iTunes Store, which has only persuaded EMI and a handful of independent labels to let it offer their tracks in the&#160;DRM-free iTunes Plus format it launched in May. The rest of the songs available through iTunes come with digital limitations on where they can be played, or how many times they can be burned to a CD.Three formats dominate the market for online music sales: MP3 and AAC, which are both open formats, and WMA, a proprietary format owned by Microsoft.MP3 files do not include provision for DRM: music recorded in that format will play on most digital music players, many mobile phones, and in software readily available for all the major operating systems, including Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux, opening up a huge potential market to Amazon and to other online music stores such as eMusic dealing in unprotected MP3 files.AAC is the format Apple chose for its iTunes Store. Most of the 6 million tracks in its catalog come wrapped in a proprietary DRM layer called FairPlay, although EMI and independents such as Sub Pop, Nettwerk, IODA and The Orchard also allow it to offer higher quality AAC recordings without DRM. The DRM-encumbered tracks will play on authorized iPods, iPhones, PCs, and Macs -- but won&#39;t play on digital music players from other vendors. Unprotected AAC files will also play on many mobile phones, PCs running Linux with the appropriate software, and even Microsoft&#39;s Zune digital music player.WMA files without DRM will play on PC or Macs using Windows Media Player, and some phones and digital music players -- although typically not on the same ones that play AAC files. Microsoft has also introduced a range of DRM systems enabling online stores to sell locked WMA files -- and later abandoned some of them, leaving a certain amount of confusion and doubt about whether devices and songs branded &quot;PlaysForSure&quot; really will play for sure.Industry executives expect initiatives such as iTunes Plus and Amazon MP3, which remove the DRM locks placed on music downloads by an earlier generation of music services, will encourage consumers to buy more music.Warner believes that giving consumers the assurance that the music they purchase can be played on any device they own will only encourage more sales of music, it said Friday.It may also persuade music-buyers to look at other brands of digital music player such as the Zune range from Microsoft, ending Apple&#39;s dominance of that market segment.With the locks off the music, Apple also faces the prospect of a price war with Amazon, which offers 1 million of its MP3 tracks for just $0.89, compared to the $0.99 Apple charges for all its tracks. Before the launch of Amazon MP3, Apple also charged a $0.30 premium for tracks in the iTunes Plus format, which is recorded at a higher quality than the DRM-encumbered versions. Other Amazon tracks sell for $0.99.
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By Anonymous  Online music stores cheered at EMI's decision to sell their music free of digital rights management (DRM) software. The move will help stores cash in on digital music sales.
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The company will begin selling music downloads in the MP3 format, at least in North America. Sony says it has no plans to drop copy protection elsewhere.
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Yahoo is reportedly in talks with major labels about a DRM-free music store. to offer them either for sale or for free in an ad-supported model.
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Amazon announces that it will add music from Sony BMG to its Amazon MP3 digital music download service.
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Universal Music Group, the world&#39;s  largest music company, said on Friday it closed its $2.19  billion acquisition of BMG Music Publishing, which means it can  begin to sell off some European publishing rights as directed  by regulators.
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Online retailer Amazon.com Inc   said on Sunday it will begin an international roll-out  this year of its digital music store that offers songs without  copy-protection technology known as digital rights management.
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In the latest proof that the label is at least testing DRM-free music sales, consumers can buy gift cards from physical stores and redeem digital albums online. The bad news is that the music is also "anonymously watermarked."