MediaVidea

EMI goes DRM-free, or does it?

EMI’s announcement of launching a new premium downloads for worldwide retail sale is indeed a break from the norm for a recording company, but some niggles remain:

1. EMI has less than 10% market share:
This may be old data, dating back to 2005. However, According to Nielsen SoundScan, the 2005 world music market was divided up as follows:

- Independent labels' world market share: 18.13%

- The combined total world market share of four majors: 81.87%.

Out of which:
- Universal Music Group: 31.71%

- Sony BMG Music Entertainment: 25.61% (13.83% Sony, 11.78% BMG)

- Warner Music Group: 15%

- EMI Group: 9.55%

Via the now defunct Google Answers)

Although, you can credit EMI for doing savvy branding, ala Steve Jobs.

2. EMI will continue using DRM elsewhere.
According to the announcements on site,

EMI Music will continue to employ DRM as appropriate to enable innovative digital models such as subscription services (where users pay a monthly fee for unlimited access to music), super-distribution (allowing fans to share music with their friends) and time-limited downloads (such as those offered by ad-supported services).

Nonetheless, it is a start.

posted by Pramit Singh @ 2:14 PM