RUMOUR: iTunes to add DRM-free Sony music

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SonyBMG, soon to be Sony Music Entertainment Inc, is one of the four major music labels, and features bands and artists like the Ting Tings, AC/DC and Dido. If rumours are correct, then music from those bands and many others will soon be available on the iTunes store DRM-free.

Currently, EMI are the only major label to offer MP3 files on iTunes Plus – Apple’s name for their DRM-free, slightly higher quality, offering that costs 25% more per track than DRMed files. If Sony’s music is added, it will be a plus for Apple, but they still lag far far behind services like 7digital, who are 100% DRM-free, and remain my a la carte MP3 download provider of choice.

While we’re at it, do you know what the most downloaded catalogue song ever on iTunes is? Soundscan, over the weekend, determined that it’s the epic “Don’t Stop Believin'” by Journey. Classic. I’ve embedded a video of them playing it live just after the jump. Power Ballads first thing on a Monday morning are just what everyone needs.

7digital sign up Sony and go 100% DRM-free in their digital music store

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This morning, in a loft in Shoreditch, 7Digital announced that their digital music catalogue is to become 100% free of DRM. The last holdout among the major labels – SonyBMG – has bowed to consumer demand and agreed to sell its catalogue of 250,000 tracks in MP3 format, as opposed to the restricted WMA format. Even better, all SonyBMG tracks that customers have previously bought will be upgraded to MP3s at no cost. All MP3s are at 320kbps quality…

Last.fm launches free on-demand music platform in UK

last_fm_logo.pngLast.fm has today announced that it is the first website to offer free, global, on-demand access to the largest licensed catalogue of music from Universal Music Group, Sony/BMG, Warner and EMI, plus CD Baby, IODA, the Orchard, Naxos and more than 150,000 independent labels and artists.

The service is ad supported, which means that they can implement the second part of their master plan: paying unsigned artists each time one of their tracks is played on the Last.fm service.