Sony says unlocked music files in the cards for January

Sony BMG Music Entertainment said Monday it will begin selling audio downloads in the MP3 format later this month, becoming the last of the four major record labels to sell some of their music without digital copyright protection software.

Sony BMG, the second-largest music company after Universal Music, said it would begin offering a gift card service on Jan. 15 in the U.S. that would allow consumers to purchase albums in the MP3 format.

The gift card program, called Platinum MusicPass, will debut later in January in Canada.

The cards will be priced at a suggested list retail price of $12.99 and will include the complete digital album plus bonus material or, in the case of compilations, extensive track listings. Customers then scratch the back of the card to reveal an access code that will allow them to download their music files in the MP3 format.

Unlike other proprietary audio formats, the MP3 format does not use digital rights management, or DRM, copyright protection.

DRM software was originally added to audio tracks to prevent users from making multiple copies or sharing the files online for free but has been controversial with consumer rights groups, who have opposed DRM software on downloaded songs because consumers have traditionally had the right to copy songs they have paid for once.

Copy protection has also built walls between rival formats. DRM software prevents songs downloaded fromApple'siTunes store, for example, frombeing transferred to digital players made by Microsoft, Sony or other makers.

"The MP3 files delivered through MusicPass play on computers, as well as on all MP3 players, including iPods. This makes them a simple, easy-to-use solution that will appeal to fans who already access their music on the internet, as well as to consumers who are just getting into the digital realm," Thomas Hesse, Sony BMG's president of global digital business and U.S. sales, said in a statement.

In Canada, participating retailers will include Best Buy, CD Plus, Future Shop, Shoppers Drug Mart and Wal-Mart, the company said. In addition, HMV will launch MusicPass in Canada during the first calendar quarter of 2008, Sony said.

Industry moving away from DRM

Sony is the last of the four major record labels to experiment with audio tracks without accompanying DRM technology, as online sales haven't made up for a drop in album sales in recent years. According to Neilsen SoundScan, the number of albums sold last year declined 9.5 per cent, even when accounting for online sales.

Last April, EMI Group became the first of the four major record labels to begin selling its audio files without DRM when it reached a deal to sell the unlocked songs at a premium price through the iTunes store and later Amazon.com.

Vivendi's Universal Music Group began selling its audio tracks DRM-free in August, while Warner Music Group announced a deal to sell MP3s through Amazon.com.

The record labels hope the move to strip DRM from their music will help them regain consumers who are getting their audio tracks through peer-to-peer file sharing networks.

Internet users collectively download about 1.1 billion songs from file-sharing networks every month, according to U.S.-based online media measurer BigChampagne.