EMI/DRM links...

http://media.guardian.co.uk/newmedia/story/0,,2048507,00.html -iTunes to offer EMI music to all

http://media.guardian.co.uk/newmedia/story/0,,2048195,00.html - EMI and Apple in DRM deal

http://media.guardian.co.uk/newmedia/story/0,,2048900,00.html - "Big step forward in music revolution" hailed as EMI drops copy protection

http://media.guardian.co.uk/newmedia/story/0,,2049994,00.html - EMI releases its first album without copy protection

http://media.guardian.co.uk/newmedia/story/0,,2055410,00.html - Beatles-EMI dispute settled

Basically, it started when EMI offered iTunes all its digital music without copy protection which means that fans could download music on to any sort of device, not just i-Pods. Not only can users now listen to their music on any sort of music device, but the quality of the music is far better as well.

Some suggest that it is merely a clever and sneaky way of record labels and digital stores raising their prices.

This decision by EMI seems to be paving the way for other record labels to do the same.
DRM protected tracks are available for 79p, but for higher quality music, customers are expected to pay another 20p. Entire albums can cost as little as £7.99.

Apples iTunes Store is said to be the most popular online music store having sold more than 2.5bn tracks around the world.

These stories include mention of Sony BMG saying that they would no longer accept demo tapes or CDs from prospective new signings, which in turn, encourages artists to take a more "myspace" approach to advertising their music.

A later dispute was that Beatles tracks were not available in this NMT. However, the dispute with EMI has now been settled. Members of the band, and relatives claimed that EMI had underpaid them by tens of millions of pounds in money on sales of Beatles records between 1994 and 1999.