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As Download Services Go DRM Free Where Are The Indies?

As the major download services add DRM-free tracks from EMI and Universal, where is music fromDrm_anti_wall the indies?

Indie music after all makes up 70-80% of all new releases by volume and 30% of sales. And it’s not that indie labels don’t want to sell DRM-free to iTunes, Walmart.com, Rhapsody and others. Most indies already sell DRM-free at bargain prices via eMusic.  And even a Walmart_2
usually selective Wal-Mart has virtually unlimited shelf space in their digital storefront. 

 It can’t be that the programming is too difficult. After, all these sites just added thousands of tracks from EMI and Universal with just a few weeks notice.  Is it the cost?  Most already sellRhapsody hundreds of thousands of indie tracks with DRM.  Why not at least experiment
selectively with key indie tracks or labels DRM-free?

Itunesunlock
Most consumers don’t shop labels. They look for songs and artists.  Not until these downloads stores sell DRM-free tracks from both indie and major labels will the industry see the effects of untethered tracks on both sales and innovation.

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2 Comments

  1. I remember someone from Nettwerk commenting that long before Steve Jobs was the patron saint of DRM-free music they’d tried to sell their catalog DRM-free through iTMS and were flatly told DRM was the way it was, regardless of if the labels wanted it or not.

  2. Known issue… there will be absolutey no action until more majors (Universal first?, then Warner, and then a post-Thomas Hesse Sony BMG) decide to offer DRM-free downloads. “After all the changes are done, there will be…” attention for the concerns of the indies.

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