In an industry that often looks glum and stagnant in terms of initiative and creativity, some of the best moments occur when huge corporations—like EMI—decide that they want to pursue DRM-free initiatives. Though the decision and subsequent licensing with Apple and a couple others is well known, it remained to be seen whether they would continue on their licensing spree.
EMI Canada has released its catalog to Puretracks, solving a bit of the music store’s interoperability concerns. However, in the midst of this, they decided that it would be reasonable to follow the same approach as Apple: charging $1.29 for each download. Ouch.
It’s all well and good that EMI has released this music without DRM, though in negotiating a higher price than the normal 99 cents per song is stabbing itself in the foot. People should not be made to pay more for something they should be rightfully receiving in the first place.
Simply because DRM was a mistake doesn’t give anyone a green light to rip off the consumer to try to make up for the loss in revenue. When will they learn?
[via: Digital Music News]
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