Sony BMG, the last holdout for copyright protection software that until recently has been de rigueur when purchasing music online, has announced plans to make at least part of its catalog available in a DRM-free format. This announcement follows similar decisions by Universal Music Group and Warner Brothers, which recently announced plans to sell its catalog digitally through Amazon.com. Sony will now be able to sell music in less restrictive environments such as Facebook and MySpace and team with retailers like Amazon to take a swipe at Apple’s unpopular universal pricing policy. The move to DRM-free songs is a particularly large policy change for Sony, which incited a customer boycott in 2005 after embedding CDs with a surreptitious copy protection program that left users’ PCs vulnerable to computer viruses. To underscore Sony Corporation’s commitment to a future without boundaries, Sony artist Justin Timberlake is participating in a Super Bowl promotion with Pepsi that will kick off Feb. 3 and offer free distribution of one billion songs from major labels through Amazon’s new music store. [Business Week]
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