The movement towards DRM free music continues. The biggest event is of course iTunes that announces that its complete catalog will be available as DRM free songs. iTunes announced also a new price list adding $0.69 songs (in addition to $0.99 and $1.29)

Warner France followed this movement. It announced that its two sites Fnac Music and Virgin Media will sell DRM free songs in 2009. Nevertheless, it is a trial and the final decision will be taken in 2010.

DRM free music is a trend that will not stop. Will it extend to other fields such as games or video? I am not sure. of course, customers would like it. DRM free distribution with a session watermark to detect eventual illegal distribution is promoted, for instance by the Digital Watermark Alliance.. Nevertheless, there are several differences with music. According to me, the biggest one is that the investments are far huger than music. In the case of video, the release windows strategy and commercial agreements are also problems.

We will continue to monitor this trend in 2009.