Rhapsody on Monday partnered with MTV Networks to launch Music Without Limits. They want to accomplish three goals in the digital-music industry: Speed the migration from proprietary formats such as Digital Rights Management (DRM) music; empower music fans to stream full-length songs and buy MP3s from music sites and social networks on the Web; and integrate digital music directly with mobile phones.
"Until now, legal digital music has suffered from severe limitations on where consumers could buy it and how they could use it," said Rob Glaser, chairman and CEO of RealNetworks. "Music Without Limits fixes those problems and will make digital music easier and more valuable for consumers."
Rhapsody's Twist on DRM-Free
The Rhapsody MP3 catalog will include more than five million songs from all four major music labels -- Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, and EMI -- plus independent labels. The Rhapsody MP3 Store is offering digital albums, most for $9.99, and tracks for 99 cents.
Rhapsody stocked the store with DRM-free MP3 music from its inventory, as well as its partners, including iLike, Yahoo, MTV Networks, and Verizon Wireless. Rhapsody's MP3 Store lets consumers listen to full-length songs instead of 30-second samples. Purchased tracks and albums can be downloaded into Rhapsody, RealPlayer or iTunes.
Beginning in the weeks ahead, consumers will be able to enjoy full-song playback (up to 25 songs per month per person) whether they are on Yahoo Music or MTV.com, CMT.com or VH1.com, and they will have the ability to go from playing a song on those sites to purchasing a DRM-free version of the music. This is a scalable model to monetize the potential for music consumption across social networks. Artists and labels will be paid royalties each time their music is played.
On the mobile front, Rhapsody will also push much of...

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