New York - Warner Music Group chief Edgar Bronfman hinted that his company, which had been adamant that it would not sell music without digital rights management (DRM) technology, might be open to doing so in some instances, Reuters reported.

Fellow major labels EMI and Universal have begun limited sales of their catalogs in the unprotected MP3 format, which does not hinder copying of songs or their transfer to portable devices.

"DRM is here to stay, whether it's here to stay on every business model in the music business is open to question," Bronfman said at a Goldman Sachs investor conference yesterday.

Warner Music has already begun experimenting with online retailer Lala.com, with DRM-free songs that are downloaded directly to Apple's iPod.

The angle is that Apple makes it difficult for consumers to transfer music off of the iPod for potential copying -- although many third-party software applications exist that do just that.

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