(* Source : Wired *)

David Kravets says :

Amazon's Tuesday launch of a DRM-free music store with some 2 million tracks represents the music industry's clearest repudiation yet of the elaborate copy-protection schemes it once staked its future on. And though it may not be obvious at first, it's Apple we have to thank.

Along with thousands of independent labels, major music producers Universal Music Group and EMI have signed on to sell songs on Amazon's new service, representing half of the "Big Four" music publishers. True, both Universal and EMI had already experimented with DRM-free downloads, but there are signs that the rest of the industry will soon follow.

Edgar Bronfman, Jr., the Warner Music Group chairman, told Goldman Sachs investors in New York last week he was considering removing DRM from Warner's music downloads -- this just months after suggesting Warner would never abandon DRM. He blamed Apple for the apparent change of heart.

"We need some online competition" for Apple's iTunes Music Store, Bronfman said. He conceded the iPod is "the default device" and iTunes the "download model."

DRM -- digital rights management -- allows downloads to expire, or to be shared and played only a limited number of times or on certain devices.

The self-created headache for the industry is that the highly popular iPod and new iPhone only play music protected by Apple's proprietary FairPlay DRM solution or music that isn't protected at all. And Apple chairman Steve Jobs has repeatedly balked at licensing FairPlay for use on competing download services or devices.

That meant music companies had to choose between using iTunes or going DRM-free. The industry stood by and allowed most of its music-download sales to come from Apple. Recognizing opportunities lost to Apple's dominance, the music industry is moving toward throwing DRM overboard in a bid to open up new retail markets and promotional opportunities.

"As a consumer, when you buy a slice of bread you want to know you could put it in any toaster," said Jeanne Meyer, a vice president at EMI, in an interview ahead of the Amazon announcement.

Phil Leigh, an analyst with Inside Digital Media, put the industry's predicament in layman's terms.

"As long as the iPod is dominant, they're going to have to reconcile themselves with dealing with what the consumer wants: something that will play on the iPod," Leigh said. "The smartest thing they can do is sell music without DRM. It's not as though DRM is stopping pirating in other ways, anyway."

The irony of the industry's predicament was not lost on Steve Jobs, Apple's chairman. Jobs described the industry's sagging business model as self-created by EMI, Sony BMG, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group, the so-called "Big Four" leaders of sales and label ownership, with control of 70 percent of the world's music distribution market.

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