The EU and Reality

On Monday two stories came out in the press that seemingly should have been linked.

#1 - Apple and EMI announced on Monday that beginning in May they would release the entire EMI catalogue without digital rights management coding and at a higher sampling rate for $1.29 per song. Those of us who have bought music at the lower sampling rate and with the DRMs could upgrade to the higher standard for 30¢ per tune.

#2 - The European Commission has made further comments about proceeding against Apple because charged Apple and the record companies "are restricting the ability of consumers to choose where to buy music, what music is available and at what price." For Apple's part they commented "Apple has always wanted to operate a single, pan-European iTunes store accessible by anyone from any member state, but we were advised by the music labels and publishers that there were certain legal limits to the rights they could grant us. We don't believe Apple did anything to violate E.U. law. We will continue to work with the E.U. to resolve this matter." Currently, European customers of iTunes can only buy their music from their home country using a bank card from that country. The DRMs were an invention of the record companies. It seems that the country restrictions are also the creation of the companies.

I guess the news about the EMI deal did not reach the bureaucrats in Brussels. But then Luddites are mostly the last to keep up on technological developments. But shouldn't someone tell them? The EMI move should begin to break down the walls created by the record companies, the EC might do well to cool its jets for a while and let the market continue to evolve. Perhaps they might even learn something about the dynamics of markets.