EMI Says Initial Sales Of DRM-Free Tracks Look Good

from the nice-to-hear dept

Thu, Jun 21st 2007 1:56pm — Carlo Longino

EMI's DRM-free tracks have been available through the iTunes Music Store for a few weeks now, and an EMI exec told a conference in New York this week that the initial sales reports are positive. The exec cited several albums that have seen big increases in sales since the launch of iTunes Plus, leading some to wonder how many of the sales are coming from upgrades. The conclusion is that the DRM-free tracks are getting an early bump from people upgrading old purchases from DRM-restricted to DRM-free (and higher quality), and that they'll soon tail off, once everybody's upgraded their library. This could be true, and upgrades could certainly explain the big pop that some older albums, like Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon are seeing, but such strength from upgrades really underlines the popularity of DRM-free music, and establishes that people are willing to pay for it. After all, while upgrades in iTunes only cost 30 cents, that's still 30 additional cents people are spending for a piece of music they've already purchased -- and it's 30 cents of new revenue for the retailer and record label. Furthermore, even if unit sales held steady, EMI's DRM-free tracks sell at a higher price than those encumbered with copy protection, so it behooves the label to replace sales of locked-down singles with DRM-free ones. It doesn't seem too surprising to see EMI have some success with selling tracks free of pointless copy protection, but hopefully its public comments will help convince other labels to take the plunge.

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11 Comments

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Eric the Grey, 21 Jun 2007 @ 2:34pm

They have every reason to do this
With the user ID encoded into the tracks, they can still track people who illegally upload this music to P2P services, and more people seem willing to purchase it.

It's too bad they are using the Apple prpriatery format, instead of an open standard. I'd buy music from them if they offered an MP3 format.

EtG
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- Anonymous Coward, 22 Jun 2007 @ 3:49am
  
  Re: They have every reason to do this
  AAC is better quality than mp3.
  
  Just because it's the most well-known compressed audio file, everyone thinks mp3 is the best.
  
  It's not.
  
  Technology improves over time people. MP3 is *old*. You didn't think better stuff would come along by now?
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  - Chris, 22 Jun 2007 @ 1:00pm
    
    Re: Re: They have every reason to do this
    AAC might be better quality, but they don't play on everything. You can't play AAC on a Zune, just like you can't play WMA on a iPod. MP3 is superior because it plays on pretty much anything.
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Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased), 21 Jun 2007 @ 2:39pm

DRM-Free = Format Choice
If there is no need for DRM then they should offer it in any format that the buyer wants. Baby steps, I guess.
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Jun 2007 @ 2:57pm

As long as the iTunes software is required, they won't be getting my money.

I'm sorry, you can't purchase that CD. You don't own a Sony CD player.

And, here, hand me that CD, why don't we write your name on it so you don't lose it. Just like your underwear at camp...
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Jun 2007 @ 4:04pm

Idiots?
To poster #3, you do realize that AAC can be played on just about every mp3 player out there right? It is even the standard for the PS3. You only have to use iTunes to download the songs. once you have them you can play them on what ever player you want.
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- K), 21 Jun 2007 @ 4:26pm
  
  Re: Idiots?
  You forgot Poster #1, who seems to think AAC is an apple format, which it isn't. It stands for Advanced Audio Coding, which, like AC above me said, can be played on any MP3 Player. It is not an apple proprietary format.
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  - GoblinJuice, 21 Jun 2007 @ 5:22pm
    
    Re: Re: Idiots?
    MP3 != AAC.
    
    I've got some cheap, no brand MP3 players that can ONLY play MP3s. They won't even play WAVs. ;(
    
    That's what I get for buying cheap, no brand MP3 players.
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Chronno S. Trigger, 21 Jun 2007 @ 5:48pm

Sandisk
I have a SanDisk Sansa express. it plays MP3, WMA, WMV and audio books. "Supports MP3, WMA, Protected WMA, WAV, and Audible files" I can't find any of their players that play AAC and I don't think SanDisk counts as low end. They definitely fall under the category of "All MP3 Players".

Not that I couldn't get it to work anyways but please make sure your arguments are accurate before posting.

Creative Zen doesn't either. It wasn't hard to find ones that don't.
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bailey, 21 Jun 2007 @ 6:03pm

I'm a buyer
So far I've purchased two drm-free albums off of itunes. I prefer the immediate gratification of getting it when I want it(which would be now) combined with the freedom to play the tracks on anything I want.
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Mehboob Alam, 21 Jun 2007 @ 6:27pm

AAC players
Spot check a few recent Sony players
"Format(s) Supported - CD-R, C-RW with MP3/ATRAC3®/ ATRAC3plus™ Audio, WMA(non-DRM)/AAC(non-DRM)"

Companies will catch on and realize that there is a huge body of AAC files out there since the iTunes default format for ripping CDs is AAC.
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