European service beats Apple to offer fully DRM-free music service – all labels included

 UK music service 7digital today beat Apple and Amazon to the  punch, introducing a fully DRM-free music service featuring tracks from all four major labels – and announcing plans to open for business in the US and Canada.

The company this morning announced a deal with Sony BMG to offer music from that label DRM-free in MP3 format, meaning it now offers music free of rights restriction from all four major labels – Sony BMG, Universal Music, Warner Music and EMI Records.

7digital is therefore the first digital music store in Europe to offer downloads from all the majors unencumbered by DRM, even while Amazon inks the deals for the European expansion of its DRM-free service, and while Apple continues to seek permission to offer more music through its DRM-free iTunes Plus system.

7digital’s music quality is also high. Tracks are sold as high-quality 320kbps MP3 files – they’re better quality than available elsewhere and will play on any device.

Clearly the UK company has support from the labels – it will launch its service in the US and Canada before the end of the year, the company said.