Sony BMG, Last Holdout In DRM Wars, Finally Caves To Demand

Well, it?s happened. Sony BMG announced it is ?finalizing plans to sell songs without copyright protection? sold via the Web.

And here we were just starting to appreciate the resistance the recording giant had thus far erected in the face of inevitable change.

Okay, actually, to be straight with you, no, we didn?t so much as give the company a passing smirk in our own coverage of its stubborn refusal to bend to consumer demand. But let?s shelve the nasty talk for a moment, show off our pearly whites for a second or two, and send a message of thanks to Schmidt-Holtz & Co and say all together: Better late than never!

Of course that little adage might not be the most politically correct to use in this case, as it was guaranteed that the S-to-the-B-M-G (you know the drill; mockery and ridicule to the comments, folks) was going to break eventually, but at least we?re seeing them guns up in that big ivory tower cave to pressure at the start of the year than somewhere much further down the line, eh?

The full list of details of the transition has yet to be relayed to us out here in the blog world ? DRM-free doesn?t always mean no more trickiness, truth be told ? but suffice to say that music lovers will soon no longer have to manage their digital libraries knowing it all might not travel well if they so choose to emigrate, say, away from the iTunes-iPod duopoly.

Which brings up another topic. We now must question just which of the Web-based audio distribution channels will obtain first dibs on the Sony catalogue sans the copy protection. Will it push its newly liberated albums and singles to all corners of the digital downloadscape? Or will it be as picky as were the last two companies (Universal and Warner) to strip off that cursed securitization. Will Sony venture first to AmazonMP3, to further annoy Apple CEO Steve Jobs? Or could it be looking to work an angle more logically beneficial to its business and very liberally apply the anti-DRM far and wide? Time will tell, for sure. Yet we nonetheless urge the company to venture through door #2.

Why? Well, why the hell not? It?s hardly in any interest of any of the Big Four to play favorites and give particular outlets access to the really good (or at least better) goods while snubbing others. The whole lot of them are very plainly headed down a steep decline right now. CD sales have dropped some 9.5 since 2006, according to a report recently released by the AP. And that gradient is only going to appear more extreme as the months progress. They?re presently not in the position to play hardball with Apple - or any other music download service for that matter - whatsoever.

That said, we couldn?t care less about who Sony picks to receive that golden ticket to its unprotected treasure. As long as it makes the move fast, and doesn?t ruin this chance at redemption with any of that stupidity it?s now quite infamous for, we?re pleased with shift it?s chosen to make ? however unwilling it?s been to do so.