London - In a watershed moment for the music industry, major record label EMI Music announced on Monday that it will begin selling songs free from digital rights management (DRM) -- in a higher-quality file and for a premium price -- at online retailers, starting with Apple's iTunes Store.

Beginning in May, EMI tracks will be available on iTunes in 256 kbps AAC format for $1.29 per song.

In addition, all full albums from EMI artists will now be offered DRM-free, with no hike from the standard $9.99 price. Consumers will be able to upgrade previous EMI purchases on iTunes to the higher-quality, unprotected version for 30 cents a song.

EMI will also sell its music videos on iTunes DRM-free, with no change in price. 

"Our goal is to give consumers the best possible digital music experience," said EMI Group CEO Eric Nicoli.

"By providing DRM-free downloads, we aim to address the lack of interoperability which is frustrating for many music fans. We believe that offering consumers the opportunity to buy higher quality tracks and listen to them on the device or platform of their choice will boost sales of digital music."

EMI becomes the first major record label to offer its entire catalog for sale without the restrictions that prevent songs purchased from some stores from playing on particular devices.

The label had been experimenting with the idea, last year offering tracks from Norah Jones, Relient K and Lily Allen in the unprotected MP3 format.

EMI said it will expand its DRM-free sales to other digital retailers as well, allowing them to choose whether to sell downloads in AAC, WMA, MP3 or other unprotected formats.

EMI's move is also a coup for Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who in an open letter to the record industry in February called on the major labels to abandon digital rights management.

While Jobs did not detail negotiations with other labels, he said the company "expect[s] to offer more than half of the songs on iTunes in DRM-free versions by the end of this year."

Related Links:
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/070402/clm179.html?.v=10

http://tinyurl.com/38hhat (EMI announcement)

http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughtsonmusic

http://tinyurl.com/27gcwf (Billboard)