SEATTLE (Hypebot) – Despite telling independent labels and
distributors to deliver DRM-free tracks to iTunes months ago, our
sources tell us that many labels only received Apple's contract
covering the change within the last few days.
The result is that a full 8 months after Steve Jobs called on record labels to drop copy restrictions,
the iTunes Plus DRM-Free store has by far the weakest selection of
DRM-Free independent label music of the three top download services.
Both eMusic and the new Amazon mp3 store have more than 2 millions
DRM free tracks mostly from indies, and yet iTunes' selection is a
fraction of that number. Although Apple claims that tracks are
being added daily, a quick search found that many top indie artists
who have DRM-free tracks available elsewhere where not represented
on iTunes Plus.
In fact, we wondered for months if Steve "I Like To Keep Control"
Jobs really wants a DRM free world to arrive any faster than it has
to.
