January 09, 2009

By By Wolfgang Spahr, Berlin

Following the Jan. 6 decision by Apple to make iTunes DRM-free, the German download platform Musicload will sell more than 95% of their songs without DRM from April 2009.

Musicload, part of Deutsche Telekom, is the largest platform for legal downloads in Germany. The company reports that they have about 6.5 million tracks of which 3 million are already DRM-free.

According to a Musicload spokesman, the German record industry is supporting its decision.

The Musicload service has a flexible pricing system with tracks costing between ?0.79 ($1.08) to ?1.99 ($2.71). The spokesman added that there are regular discussion with labels over the pricing levels.

Subscribe to Billboard magazine today!