Giant record firm EMI has apparently decided to make a bold move and release some of its copyrighted material in digital form without the protection of Digital Rights Management (DRM) software.

Digital rights first came to mass scrutiny almost a decade ago when peer-to-peer music sharing site Napster rose to popularity and got too big to hide from music companies and celebrities alike. With the dawning of the iPod dynasty, Apple came up with the iTunes music store that had content embedded with anti-copy code.

Critics of DRM say that the policy constricts the market and does not make for a more dynamic market where the small fry of the music scene can show the world what they've got. Proponents of DRM, on the other hand, say that their policy protects the artists and upholds intellectual property and copyright laws.

The rationale behind EMI's move is yet to be revealed, but it may very well be that a more selective DRM policy can be used to breed the break-out of unknown talents while preserving the interest of established record artists to give them what's due.

Industry insiders claim that within the month, EMI should hold a mews conference in London in cooperation with the Apple corporation to announce the move.