With the extraordinary 74 percent drop in quarterly net income reported by Warner Music Group (WMG) recently, it may have been the final push for music companies to start releasing their music catalogs without protections on them.
The EMI Group is said to be in talks to do this very thing now, Reuters reports.
When Apple Inc. (AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs called for music companies to drop their anti-piracy measures, he wasn't responded to very well by the industry leaders.
A spokeswoman for EMI did reveal that the company has been experimenting with MP3 formats with singles from Norah Jones and Lily Allen.
"The results have been positive," the EMI spokeswoman said, adding, "lack of operability between a proliferating range of devices and hardware and the digital platforms for delivering music is more and more becoming an issue for music consumers and EMI has been engaging with our various partners to find a solution."
While all of this gives no guarantee that there will be a rise in sales from the changes, there is absolutely no choice but to do it. What are the other options? To drop in net income like Warner Music did?
Evidently what one source said is that in exchange for releasing the music catalogs without protections, they are asking for huge payments in advance for the right for retailers to sale the music in that format.
I think that when the music companies finally do this, it will offer an intangible called 'good will' to its customers that will bring back a loyalty that has all but been abandoned because of its legal attack upon the very biggest consumers of their music.
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Tracked on: February 9, 2007 4:19 PM | Permalink to Trackback