Apple and EMI announced on Monday (2nd April) that they would start selling songs without the restrictive Digital Rights Management software that only allows songs downloaded from the iTunes Store to be played on an iPod.

Under the deal, iTunes will offer a higher price of $1.29, 1.29 euros or 99 pence for every track of EMI’s catalogue available online in a higher-quality format without DRM. EMI albums sold on iTunes will automatically be sold without the software and at the higher sound quality for the same price.

Consumers who have already bought standard tracks or albums with DRM will be able to upgrade for 30 cents (dollars and euros) and 20 pence per track. EMI music videos will be available via iTunes DRM-free with no change in price.

To mark the deal The Good, The Bad and The Queen performed the songs ‘Herculean‘ and ‘Nature Springs‘.

The band’s self title album is the first available under the new DRM system and will remain the only one until the rest of EMI’s online catalogue is upgraded.

EMI is also home to Blur and Gorillaz as well as other acts such as Coldplay, Robbie Williams and KT Tunstall.