Monday, April 2, 2007 |
09:25 - Cards on the table
http://daringfireball.net/2007/04/emi_drm_free_music
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Wow, that took less time than I'd thought: EMI is on board with the no-DRM thing, and hey, so is Apple after all.
So much for accusations that Jobs was full of shit with his “Thoughts on Music” essay. Clearly, Apple is willing to embrace DRM-free music sales, and they’re not going to wait for all of the major labels to agree before going forward with it.
The fact that this happened so soon after Jobs' essay leads me to wonder whether this deal was already in the works at the time, though. If Jobs didn't have any hope that any of the labels would bend, it seems to me he wouldn't have bothered making his impassioned plea into the wind. But if he was already making headway with EMI, then putting out the essay when he did makes him look prescient—and gives him a few key months of free headway in negotiations with the remaining labels. Now, to them, it looks like EMI jumped at Steve's offer, and now they'll feel like they have to play catch-up; and Steve doesn't have to bother courting them from scratch.
30 cents extra for no DRM and double the quality? And a one-click crossgrade for existing purchases, by adding the 30 cents per song? Sweet. Looks like the database is suddenly becoming a lot more deterministic these last few days, doesn't it? Now, as it turns out, they do know what we've bought after all...
Good show, EMI. I'll be going and finding some stuff to buy just to show moral support.
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