Sony BMG Joining Amazon’s US Music Store; Final Major To Try DRM-Free: Report
By Robert Andrews - Fri 04 Jan 2008 09:08 AM PST
Sony (NYSE: SNE) BMG, the joint venture between Sony and German media group Bertelsmann, will join EMI, Vivendi’s (EPA: VIV) Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group (NYSE: WMG) in selling music through Amazon’s (NSDQ: AMZN) US MP3 store, making it the last of the major’s to start retailing DRM-free music, BusinessWeek suggests. The company had already been expected this quarter to start selling iTunes Store-like gift cards in stores, granting access to $12.99, MP3-format albums from a forthcoming website. BW’s unnamed source says Sony BMG will, around the same time, join the other labels giving away DRM-less tunes for free via Amazon in a SuperBowl-related promotion starting February 3. It’s not clear how much of the label’s catalog will be involved. Amazon announced the MP3 store back in May but is still not saying whether it will open up in Europe.
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Posted in: Companies, Apple, SonyBMG, Entertainment, Music, Legal, DRM
