Classical music joins the DRM-free trend

Adding to the canon of DRM-free music, a Universal Music Group subsidiary has made a large portion of its catalog of classical performances available online free from digital rights protection.

Today, a label in Universal Music Group's classical division, Deutsche Grammophon, announced that it would be making the majority of its catalog available as DRM-free downloads on DG Web Shop.

Of the 2,427 files available, almost 650 are out of print in all other media. This includes performances by the New York Stadium Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Leonard Bernstein, and the Bayerischen Rundfunks (Bavarian Broadcasting) Symphony Orchestra. Deutsche Grammophon, which won the "Label of the Year" award at 2007's Gramophone Awards, strives to digitize all of its recordings and make them available on the site.

Available in 40 countries, individual songs retail for around €1.09, and albums range between €10.99-11.99.

While the vast majority of classical music falls into the ever-growing public domain, not all of their performances are, especially for major orchestras and operas in Western Europe and North America. Even performances of works that are in the public domain are being contested as protected by copyright.

Ironically, the fall of the Berlin Wall brought forth a sea of great music from East Germany and much of the formerly communist world -- not always the best recording quality, but certainly great orchestras.

For neophytes in the genre seeking to improve their appreciation of classical works, many of the same pieces performed by Western orchestras with typically higher ticket prices, can be found not only DRM-free, but completely free of charge. Musopen.com is one such site that has a large selection of public domain recordings, donated for the purpose of preserving the genre.

According to US law, any work created and first published before January 1, 1923 or at least 95 years before January 1 of the current year -- whichever is latest -- is in public domain, or if the last surviving author died at least 70 years before January first of the current year. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the death of both George Gershwin and Maurice Ravel.