SAN FRANCISCO — Apple Inc. Chief Executive Steve Jobs endorsed a radical proposal Tuesday: to do away with the restrictions over what people can do with the music they buy online.
The plan could allow music fans to buy songs from Apple and play them on rivals' music players, or vice versa -- something they often can't do now because of electronic locks imposed by the recording industry.
The record labels have long resisted this move. No one knows whether the elimination of copying protections that Jobs recommended would boost the industry's sales by letting customers do more with their music purchases or open record labels to the kind of rampant piracy that plagued them earlier in the decade.
The labels had little to say about Jobs' proposal, which he issued in a 1,900-word essay posted on Apple's website. But the music industry's former top lobbyist suggested that the labels may have to give up control to keep music customers happy.
"For the labels, it feels like jumping off a cliff," said Hilary Rosen, former head of the Recording Industry Assn. of America, the U.S. recording industry's trade group. "But at this point they have little choice because this is where the market is going."
As the man whose company's iPod became the cornerstone of digital music, Jobs has tremendous clout. But Apple, too, would be taking a risk by promoting such unfettered commerce. The company has become the dominant force in online music partly by tying its online store with its devices, so songs purchased at some iTunes rivals won't play on any of the 90 million iPods that Apple has sold.
Jobs said anti-piracy protections were restricting customers' ability to do what they want with the music they buy but weren't stopping determined pirates from illegally swapping songs.
Eliminating such restrictions "is clearly the best alternative for consumers, and Apple would embrace it in a heartbeat," he said.
The letter from Jobs was a challenge to Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and EMI Group -- the four Apple partners that together control more than 70% of the world's music.
"This is good for the consumer and it's ultimately good for everyone," said Aram Sinnreich, a managing partner at Radar Research in Los Angeles. "It's been one major stumbling block in the transition of the digital economy into the 21st century."
