AfterDawn: News

Sony BMG drops DRM in digital downloads

The world's second largest music company Sony BMG this month will become the last of the big four recording companies to drop DRM protection schemes from its music downloads. Sony BMG announced today that beginning on the 15th of January, they will offer gift cards available online and in retail stores that will give consumers the ability to download MP3 music from their library that is free of DRM protection.

Consumers will also be able to download full albums digitally, receive a gift card number and redeem the DRM-free album through their MusicPass website. Currently, only US retail outlets such as Best Buy and Target will carry these gift cards.



"The introduction of MusicPass is an important part of Sony BMG's ongoing campaign to bring its artists' music to fans in new and innovative ways, and to develop compelling new business models," said Thomas Hesse, Sony BMG president.

This type of move is no doubt in direct relation to the recent reports showing that physical media music sales have plummeted while digital music sales have risen. Companies like Apple have been urging music labels to drop the DRM practices for quite some time in efforts to boost digital sales. With other record labels dropping DRM from their library earlier, it seems obvious that this has had an impact on the market.

Source:
Reuters



Written by: Dave Horvath @ 7 Jan 2008 15:52

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• 14 comments

• nobrainer

  Like they had a choice in this after all other RIAA members dropped DRM from digital music sales.
  
  Lets hope they soon stop making secuROM and drop BD+ from Drm-Ray and HDMI HDCP in a bid to close the analogue hole by making all our current equipment incompatible!
  
  but knowing sony.... http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2005/11/now...-sony-bmgs-eula
  
  Originally posted by link: Sony-BMG's EULA
  1. If your house gets burgled, you have to delete all your music from your laptop when you get home. That's because the EULA says that your rights to any copies terminate as soon as you no longer possess the original CD.
  2. You can't keep your music on any computers at work. The EULA only gives you the right to put copies on a "personal home computer system owned by you."
  3. If you move out of the country, you have to delete all your music. The EULA specifically forbids "export" outside the country where you reside.
  4. You must install any and all updates, or else lose the music on your computer. The EULA immediately terminates if you fail to install any update. No more holding out on those hobble-ware downgrades masquerading as updates.
  5. Sony-BMG can install and use backdoors in the copy protection software or media player to "enforce their rights" against you, at any time, without notice. And Sony-BMG disclaims any liability if this "self help" crashes your computer, exposes you to security risks, or any other harm.
  6. The EULA says Sony-BMG will never be liable to you for more than $5.00. That's right, no matter what happens, you can't even get back what you paid for the CD.
  7. If you file for bankruptcy, you have to delete all the music on your computer. Seriously.
  8. You have no right to transfer the music on your computer, even along with the original CD.
  9. Forget about using the music as a soundtrack for your latest family photo slideshow, or mash-ups, or sampling. The EULA forbids changing, altering, or make derivative works from the music on your computer.
  
  

  Tor: anonymity online HIDE your IP from the spies, post and browse anonymously! http://www.torproject.org/
  
  
  The RIAA Soundexchange Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, EMI.
  
  The MPAA Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, DISNEY, PARAMOUNT, FOX.

  7.1.2008 16:13 #1

• ali2007

  let's dance to the music

  7.1.2008 16:24 #2

• Pop_Smith

  They are starting to see that DRM does not solve piracy problems and that it only causes headaches for legit consumers.
  
  If Sony gets rid of BD+ and other DRM from Blu-Ray (aka DRM-Ray) than that would help it in its quest to overtake DVD in my opinion.
  
  Peace

  7.1.2008 16:51 #3

• nobrainer

  Originally posted by Pop_Smith: They are starting to see that DRM does not solve piracy problems and that it only causes headaches for legit consumers.
  
  If Sony gets rid of BD+ and other DRM from Blu-Ray (aka DRM-Ray) than that would help it in its quest to overtake DVD in my opinion.
  
  Peacei hear that, if they dropped the anti consumer region coding and BD+ i would be more inclined to purchase new equipment but then you still have HDCP HDMI DRM in all HDMI connections!
  
  
  

  Tor: anonymity online HIDE your IP from the spies, post and browse anonymously! http://www.torproject.org/
  
  
  The RIAA Soundexchange Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, EMI.
  
  The MPAA Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, DISNEY, PARAMOUNT, FOX.

  7.1.2008 17:26 #4

• DjDanio

  nobrainer, do you sit and wait for articles about sony and blu ray?

  7.1.2008 17:39 #5

• DXR88

  Sony anonces that DRM is now being replaced by the $0|\|Y Virus/trojen/worm More referd to has the hybrid. they also state that this will protect there consumers from illiagly and unatherized
  use of there media and or there digital files.
  
  Sony chairman had this to comment
  
  its been a ruff year but with the move to digital i beleive it time for more measures to be taken. this new hybrid will give are newly attained FBI agents some info to take action, so far it has helped us Eliminate a long time 89 year old pirate. the puplic may not like the way we handle things,but with are new spot among goverment agentcies we have new and more Effective way of dealing with pirates.
  
  after that discussion we asked the Chairman what he ment by Eliminate and Effective but was reluctant to anwser.

  7.1.2008 19:46 #6

• windsong

  Too little, too late.
  
  I think I'll use a Sony blu-ray burner to burn discographies of..well, whatever teens listen to these days...on Sony blu-ray discs and insert those discs into random lockers at the local high school.

  7.1.2008 20:10 #7

• nobrainer

  Sony BMG skips DRM for Platinum MusicPass MP3 gift cards
  
  Originally posted by FTA link: Posted Jan 7th 2008 10:43PM by Christopher Grant
  
  Sony BMG Music Entertainment just announced Platinum MusicPass, retail gift cards which can be traded in for digital music, delivered to you in "high-quality" – and notably DRM-free – MP3 files. No word on precisely what bitrate constitutes high-quality, but for $12.99 (or $19.99 for a couple special edition albums) you can pick up a card from a local retailer, scratch the back, enter the pin number on MusicPass.com and download the MP3s (and sometimes bonus material). Is it perhaps inadvisable to require consumers to leave the internet, go to a store to purchase a MusicPass card, only to return home to the internet to download the DRM-free track? Hey, we're not business majors here and – judging by the initial album offerings – we're not their target demographic either. Celine Dion and Kenny Chesney, really?
  $12.99 for a digital album, has anyone told sony that there are very little overheads with digital distribution thus making it cheaper for consumers?
  
  Or is it rip of the artists & consumer time, yet again!
  
  http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/200...-downloads.html
  
  Originally posted by : Ars; Full Low Down On RIAA Screw Over Via Link: Radiohead: Artists often screwed by digital downloads
  
  You might think, if you didn't work in the music business, that famous artists stand to make mad cash from popular albums on iTunes and other digital storefronts. Sadly, that's not the case, and Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke has spent the last week calling out the labels for it. He recently told BBC Radio 4 that "the big infrastructure of the music business has not addressed the way artists communicate directly with their fans. In fact, they seem to basically get in the way. Not only do they get in the way, but they take all the cash."
  
  Yorke said the same thing in a widely-quoted recent interview with David Byrne. His advice to young artists in that piece was, "Don't sign a huge record contract that strips you of all your digital rights, so that when you do sell something on iTunes you get absolutely zero. That would be the first priority." He went on to say that selling the new album, In Rainbows, directly to fans made the band more money from digital distribution than "all the other Radiohead albums put together, forever."
  
  Or are they starting to try and force on us all, the single user licence big media's wet dream that will make the fat cats, even fatter?
  

  
  
  The RIAA Soundexchange Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, EMI.
  
  The MPAA Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, DISNEY, PARAMOUNT, FOX.

  8.1.2008 05:06 #8

• BludRayne

  Let's hope Microsoft takes a hint and remove drm for their crapware, Vista.

  8.1.2008 12:46 #9

• nobrainer

  Originally posted by BludRayne: Let's hope Microsoft takes a hint and remove drm for their crapware, Vista.Well you can thank the MPAA for most of that!
  
  Why Microsoft Sold Out Consumers in VistaOriginally posted by above EFF hyperlink: Today, the PC industry needs Hollywood more than Hollywood needs the PC. Most consumers rely on traditional consumer electronics devices to view DVDs and TV content, but companies like Microsoft are betting on the converged digital home and desperately want a bigger piece of the media device market. Because of the DMCA, Microsoft has to get permission to build devices compatible with Hollywood's DRMed content. So when Hollywood demanded that Microsoft lard Vista with restrictions to access high-def DVD and digital cable content, the software giant was in a weak bargaining position.or here:
  
  A Cost Analysis of Windows Vista Content Protection By Prof. Peter Gutmann
  
  Originally posted by above hyperlink: Microsoft will totally control the premium-content distribution channel. In fact examples of this Windows content lock-in are already becoming apparent as people move to Vista and find that their legally-purchased content won't play any more under Vista (the example given in the link is particularly scary because the content actually includes a self-destruct after which it won't play any more, so not only do you need to re-purchase your content when you switch from XP to Vista, but you also need to re-purchase it periodically when it expires. In addition since the media rights can't be backed up, if you experience a disk crash you get another opportunity to re-purchase the content all over again. This is by design: as Jack Valenti, former head of the MPAA, put it, “If you buy a DVD you have a copy. If you want a backup copy you buy another one”). It's obvious why this type of business model makes the pain of pushing content protection onto consumers so worthwhile for Microsoft since it practically constitutes a license to print money.
  

  
  
  The RIAA Soundexchange Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, EMI.
  
  The MPAA Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, DISNEY, PARAMOUNT, FOX.

  8.1.2008 12:56 #10

• borhan9

  They had no choice this was the direction everyone was taking and they would eventually have to do the same. DRM free is the way of the future.

  9.1.2008 05:41 #11

• nobrainer

  @ borhan9
  
  Please read what they are doing instead, quoting myself sony are attempting to yet again rip off the public with musicpass instead of DRM.
  
  
  Quote:Sony BMG skips DRM for Platinum MusicPass MP3 gift cards
  
  Originally posted by FTA link: Posted Jan 7th 2008 10:43PM by Christopher Grant
  
  Sony BMG Music Entertainment just announced Platinum MusicPass, retail gift cards which can be traded in for digital music, delivered to you in "high-quality" – and notably DRM-free – MP3 files. No word on precisely what bitrate constitutes high-quality, but for $12.99 (or $19.99 for a couple special edition albums) you can pick up a card from a local retailer, scratch the back, enter the pin number on MusicPass.com and download the MP3s (and sometimes bonus material). Is it perhaps inadvisable to require consumers to leave the internet, go to a store to purchase a MusicPass card, only to return home to the internet to download the DRM-free track? Hey, we're not business majors here and – judging by the initial album offerings – we're not their target demographic either. Celine Dion and Kenny Chesney, really?
  $12.99 for a digital album, has anyone told sony that there are very little overheads with digital distribution thus making it cheaper for consumers?
  
  Or is it rip of the artists & consumer time, yet again!
  
  http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/200...-downloads.html
  
  Originally posted by : Ars; Full Low Down On RIAA Screw Over Via Link: Radiohead: Artists often screwed by digital downloads
  
  You might think, if you didn't work in the music business, that famous artists stand to make mad cash from popular albums on iTunes and other digital storefronts. Sadly, that's not the case, and Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke has spent the last week calling out the labels for it. He recently told BBC Radio 4 that "the big infrastructure of the music business has not addressed the way artists communicate directly with their fans. In fact, they seem to basically get in the way. Not only do they get in the way, but they take all the cash."
  
  Yorke said the same thing in a widely-quoted recent interview with David Byrne. His advice to young artists in that piece was, "Don't sign a huge record contract that strips you of all your digital rights, so that when you do sell something on iTunes you get absolutely zero. That would be the first priority." He went on to say that selling the new album, In Rainbows, directly to fans made the band more money from digital distribution than "all the other Radiohead albums put together, forever."
  
  Or are they starting to try and force on us all, the single user licence big media's wet dream that will make the fat cats, even fatter?
  

  
  
  The RIAA Soundexchange Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, EMI.
  
  The MPAA Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, DISNEY, PARAMOUNT, FOX.

  9.1.2008 05:59 #12

• nobrainer

  And here goes good old Sony with their global price fixing!
  
  http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/n...t-sony-drm-free
  
  Originally posted by link: AS PREVIOUSLY predicted by the INQ, Sony BMG has decided to abandon DRM on MP3 tracks it is currently selling via the Amazon MP3 beta site. The bad news is that the service is presently restricted to US customers only.
  
  Efforts to defeat the system and try to purchase items from outside the USA – even if you use a false address and telephone number – will fail since the service checks against your credit card number for your origin.DRM by the back door, credit card checks because DRM in media is so unpopular and finally ppl realise its about restricting sales to regions and fixing prices!
  

  
  
  The RIAA Soundexchange Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, EMI.
  
  The MPAA Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, DISNEY, PARAMOUNT, FOX.

  11.1.2008 09:29 #13

• nobrainer

  And good old anti consumer sony is at it again!
  
  http://www.boingboing.net/2008/02/01/sony-kills-drm-store.html
  
  Originally posted by Cory Doctorow,: Sony kills DRM stores -- your DRM music will only last until your next upgrade
  Posted by Cory Doctorow, February 1, 2008 10:52 AM |
  
  Stephen sez, "The Sony 'Connect' DRM-tastic music store is closing shop on March 31, 2008. Another failed experiment in DRM is leaving its paying customers out in the cold with soon-to-be unusable content (unless you violate the DMCA) in the form of audio files DRM locked to Sony's ATRAC media players. Yet another in a seemingly endless stream of examples of how media companies are punishing their paying, legitimate customers for the RIAA's own infuriating technological shortsightedness."
  
  What will happen to my library (content I own)? You will continue to be able to play, manage, and transfer the music in your SonicStage library and on your ATRAC player. For music purchased via CONNECT, this means you may continue to enjoy it as usual in your current PC configuration in accordance with our terms of use.
  
  To ensure continued access to your content, we strongly recommend that customers archive their library to audio CDs and/or make a backup using SonicStage.
  
  Translation: You can continue to "enjoy" "your" music until you get a new PC or a new music player. And really, why would you want a new PC or a new music player ever again? Surely your three-year-old ATRAC player will never be truly obsolete!well you gotta love this company, once they got your cash they couldn't give a dam just as all the early adopters of Drm-Ray players are finding out.....
  

  The BPI Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, EMI.
  
  The RIAA Soundexchange Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, EMI.
  
  The MPAA Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, DISNEY, PARAMOUNT, FOX.

  1.2.2008 14:24 #14