EMI, Soundbuzz to bring DRM-free downloads to Asia
By Satish Cheney, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 15 April 2007 1812 hrs

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SINGAPORE: Downloading music, especially for music fans in Asia, should get easier very soon.

Record label EMI said it would begin to sell music, without anti-piracy software via the iTunes website from May.

And for parts of Asia where iTunes is not available, EMI aims to provide similar downloads by the end of the year.

To do this, it is currently in talks with Singapore-based Soundbuzz, an online music retailer.

Copy protection known as Digital Rights Management (DRM) prevents people from making multiple copies of digital content.

It also prevents seamless transfer of songs from one device to another.

Although the copyright protection was vital in attracting major labels to sell their music online, changing lifestyles are turning the tide against DRM.

Mohan Mahapatra, Managing Director, EMI Music, Singapore and India, said: "I have an MP3 player, my wife has an MP3 player, my son has one, my daughter has one. I have a computer. The kids have their own computers. We all listen to music on those and I've a phone where I can also listen to music. As a consumer, do I want to download the same song eight different times? It just doesn't make sense."

And according to industry players, it is vital to make it easier for Asians to download music via their cell phones.

Sudanshu Sarronwala, CEO, Soundbuzz, said: "You are now talking about the ability to download DRM-free product onto your mobile phone and store it in your PC. And whenever you want it, you feed it back to your mobile phone. Today, with DRM-protected content on your mobile phone, you can't transfer seamlessly between your phones and PC."

In response to a question on seamless transfer being a catalyst for piracy, Mr Mahapatra said: "If you think you can steal music, you will steal it anyway. Even if it has DRM, you would crack it and steal it. So if you don't want to steal it, you will buy it. So you might as well give the people who buy music legally a better proposition."

The DRM-free downloads promise better sound quality at a higher price.

Individual tracks will cost 30 percent more but the cost of full album downloads will remain the same.


- CNA/so