EMI’s DRM-free digital catalog will likely spread to the Zune Marketplace, according to reports:

Music label EMI made waves Monday when it revealed plans to sell songs on Apple’s iTunes online store with no digital copy protection.

On Wednesday, Microsoft rode the waves, spreading word that it, too, is negotiating with EMI and other labels to lift copy protection from music sold on its rival Zune Marketplace.

“A primary objective for us within Zune is to figure out how to give consumers what they want while still balancing the rights of the content owner,” said Jason Reindorp, Zune marketing director. “Those kinds of discussions have been happening behind closed doors for some time with EMI as much as any other label.”

We’re not surprised that Microsoft wants to be next in line for DRM-free content; as Hypebot notes, they have the financial resources to match the reported $5 million advance that Apple gave EMI to engage in this experiment. But this strategy seems to play against the Zune’s possible cheap-with-a-subscription plan, which was floated earlier this week. Wouldn’t those two marketing strategies directly compete with one another–especially if the Zune store made a similar decision as iTunes, and turned the untethered downloads into “premium” content?

Microsoft is seeking DRM-free music [Seattle P-I, via hypebot]
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