Baby, I’m fucked up!

It’s a new year, it’s 2008. I was hoping for something new and innovative in the beginning of the year and Sony BMG apparently thinks they have the new and innovative idea I wanted to hear!

Reuters report that Sony BMG is the last of the four major labels to abandon DRM-protected music. It sounds great and all, but is it really?

“The introduction of MusicPass is an important part of Sony BMG’s ongoing campaign to bring its artists’ music to fans in new and innovative ways, and to develop compelling new business models,” said Thomas Hesse, Sony BMG president, global digital business & U.S. Sales.

In order to buy the clean MP3 files (or rather albums, since you can’t but individual tracks, that’s too hard to code?) you have an amazing amount of music to choose from. 37 albums are readily available, from hot and trendy artists like Barry White.

But wait - what’s the new and innovative way here? It must be the way you need to pay for the albums! First up, it’s only available for people in the US, of course, but what was to be expected? Anyhow, just drop by any store like Target or Best Buy. There you have to buy the MusicPass voucher - and then you enter the code on the web when you get back home. It’s simple! And its safe, since the internet is a dangerous place.

.. New? For them, yes.
.. Innovative? For them, yes.
.. Stupid? For the rest of us, yes.

If Sony BMG are not aware of the stupidity of this I would be amazed. My guess is that they want to be able to say that they’re offering non-drm tracks, but not really sell them.