Vivendi's Universal Music Group is to sell tracks online without copy-protection technology to see how the open format will affect sales and piracy rates.
The company said it will allow the sale of thousands of its albums and tracks from artists such as Amy Winehouse, 50 Cent and the Black Eyed Peas in MP3 format without copy-protection software, known as digital rights management, over a trial period.
"The experiment will run from August to January and analyse such factors as consumer demand, price sensitivity and piracy in regards to the availability of open MP3s," Universal said.
Most major recording studios insist that music sellers use DRM technology to curb online piracy. However, EMI in April announced it was to sell tracks without the digital locks at a slightly higher cost than those that included DRM.
Universal has signed up Google, Wal-Mart, and Amazon.com to participate in the DRM-free trial. However, Apple's iTunes is missing from the list.
