DRM-Free Music Better Service - Better Business

Market Wire, August, 2007

The Digital Freedom Campaign today applauded the Universal Music Group's decision to begin test selling DRM-Free music. UMG is the latest label to offer open format digital music to consumers, coming on the heels of the London-based EMI Group's recent announcement that since they began offering DRM-Free music through iTunes in Mid-April, sales have been encouraging.

"DRM-Free Music is better for consumers and better for business," said Maura Corbett, a spokesperson for the Digital Freedom Campaign. "Consumers want choices, and more importantly they want the freedom to use the products they have legally purchased for their personal use. The UMG's announcement is an encouraging sign that record labels are beginning to recognize and serve the expectations and demands of consumers in the digital age."

The Digital Freedom Campaign is a national effort to defend the rights of artists and consumers to use new digital technologies. The campaign, which includes organizations such as CEA, Public Knowledge, Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), Media Access Project, Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA), Be The Media, New America Foundation, National Video Resources and FreeNetworks.org, as well as more than 150 artists and labels, works to oppose measures designed to place crippling restrictions or impose excessive fees on technologies that allow individuals to lawfully enjoy and lawfully create music, video and other content.

Contact: Jennifer Stoltz 202-448-3145 jstoltz@qorvis.com