Apple urges music labels to license their music free of Digital Rights Managment (DRM).

It is the record labels who insist on making Apple's iTunes store and other online stores resell their music encumbered with DRM - and yet 90 per cent of the music they sell themselves via CDs is free of restrictions. The rub comes from the music Apple sells on its online iTunes Store. Since Apple does not own or control any music itself, it must license the rights to distribute music from others, primarily the "big four" music companies: Universal, Sony BMG, Warner and EMI. These four companies control the distribution of over 70 per cent of the world’s music.

When Apple approached these companies to license their music to distribute legally over the Internet, they were extremely cautious and required Apple to protect their music from being illegally copied. The solution was to create a DRM system, which envelopes each song purchased from the iTunes store in special and secret software so that it cannot be played on unauthorized devices.

Apple was forced to create a digital rights management (DRM) system to get the world's four largest record companies on board with the iTunes Store. DRM-free music encoded in open licensable formats means that any player can play music purchased from any store, and any store can sell music which is playable on all players. This is clearly the best alternative for consumers but some say that opening the FairPlay DRM technology wouldn't be a wise strategy because Apple would have to give up the secrets of how that technology works, and it's likely that a hack for the technology would appear very quickly. Much of the concern over DRM systems has arisen in European countries. Perhaps those unhappy with the current situation should redirect their energies towards persuading the music companies to sell their music DRM-free.

Norway has ruled that Apple's digital rights management lock on its iPod device and iTunes software is illegal. Germany and France are now joining Norway's action against Apple.