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Wal-Mart Tells Music Labels to Offer DRM-Free Music 'Or Else'

by Tim Stevens on December 3, 2007 at 11:35 AM

Wal-Mart Wants Restriction-Free Music DownloadsDRM is hated by those who legitimately purchase music, and now Wal-Mart is jumping on the bandwagon. They have asked record labels that sell music through its online store to ditch the stuff.

An abbreviation for Digital Rights Management, DRM is software created to restrict what you can do with music and movie downloads. It's the stuff that keeps you from copying music and movies from one computer to the next while limiting burning to CD or loading to a portable music player. If you legitimately paid for the content, DRM is nothing but annoying.

EMI started the DRM-free trend among the major labels this past spring, offering its restriction-free tracks for download through a number of sources. Individual artists like Radiohead and Paul McCartney have ditched DRM, but many major labels like Warner Music Group and Sony BMG have held out, requiring that their music sold online be protected. They are the ones being called out by Wal-Mart, who has asked them to make protection-free tracks available in 2008 "or else".

The "or else" part is undefined at this point, but when a retailer with the clout of Wal-Mart asks for something, it tends to get what it wants. We'll be keeping an eye on this going forward and hoping for the best.

From Boing Boing

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Tags: DRM, EMI, Wal-Mart

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