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  • Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not

    • 8 out of 10
    • Arctic Monkeys
    • Get on your dancing shoes
      You sexy little swine

      -Arctic

  • Priest = Aura

    • 10 out of 10
    • The Church
    • Another of my all-time favorites, Priest = Aura is one of those rare albums where every song is simply fantastic, and a testament to how good pop-rock can be.

      Each song immediatel

  • Rock Spectacle

    • 8 out of 10
    • Barenaked Ladies
    • These guys know how to put on a live show, and whomever recorded this knows how to capture one. Rock Spectacle is one of the warmest-sounding recordings I've ever heard, and totally fills a room at a
  • Live at the Magic Bag, Ferndale, MI

    • 6 out of 10
    • Supersuckers
    • Man, there's nothing like good, old fashioned, rock and roll... add a bit of industry resentment to that with a double-shot of cynicism, and you get one of the best "new" rock bands going. This album
  • Spanks for the Memories

    • 8 out of 10
    • Asylum Street Spankers
    • The Asylum Street Spankers are...well...The Spankers. Hailing from Austin, where I saw them live dozens of times, the band played entirely acousti

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News

Major Music Labels Watching DRM-free Music Closely

In April agreed to sell DRM-free music from EMI via the Apple iTunes store. The rest of the music industry has been watching closely to see how that works out, and now that contract renewals with Apple are coming up, more changes may be on the way, according to SmartMoney on Sunday.

Apple, iTunes and the iPod have breathed new life into music, and that has put Apple in the driver’s seat regarding how music is sold on-line. "At this point, no one can ignore Apple or what Apple wants, given its position in the marketplace," said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst with Jupiter Research. "The fact that they were able to do this deal with EMI puts more pressure on some of the other labels to follow suit."

However, the deals that have been struck between Apple and the labels expire this spring, and new negotiations are underway.

SmartMoney reported, "For their part, at least two of the recording companies will ask Jobs to sell a wider variety of content in digital bundles of songs, videos and other multimedia, according to two recording company executives familiar with their companies’ plans. They spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the confidential nature of the negotiations."

Apple has been under pressure to make their FairPlay DRM more widely available so that iTunes music plays on players other than the iPod. Apple’s response has been, in turn, to propose DRM-free music and has alllowed the price of DRM-free music to rise in compensation.

Exactly how this all comes together, the new demands from the labels and the movement to DRM-free music remains to be seen. But as more and more companies selling music get on the DRM-free bandwagon, it could give Apple all the clout it needs in these negotiations.

David Pakman, president and CEO of eMusic.com Inc. thinks the elimination DRM on music could help his company. "We really think the market is breaking our way," Pakman said. "A noteworthy major will probably take some steps in this direction later this year."

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