Beyond the Apple vs ‘Apple’ (the Beatles’ music label) settlement, comes the refreshing news that Apple has partnered with EMI to unlock music, so to speak. As the BBC puts it, this will ‘take the locks off’ music.

It’s an interesting strategy, not just because Steve Jobs has side-swiped the rest of the music industry, but because it basically challenges them to respond. He has put into place two models: DRM-free music at the premium price of $1.29, and the standard version (with the ‘locks’ in place) for the same $0.99.

Choices in music is what we have been waiting for, since the MP3 file came to stay.

From a marketing perspective, it makes a lot of sense. Like regular and premium gas, people will figure out how they derive value out of a product. This is a good start, even though the authors of "The Future of Music," a powerful book that advocated a radical change in the pricing model, appear to think it is still a bit lame.

More needs to happen, though because music is going to jump platforms even more, now that it’s ‘escaped’ the CD straitjacket. It’s going to move to newer MP3 players that perhaps won’t even resemble the ones we have now, and phones, and other personal portals or digital hubs that we surround ourselves with. What then? Zune could introduce a DRM-free model soon? Besides Jobs’ music strategy, independent artists may come up with more creative ways, and I hope they do, as we see in places such as Accident Hash, and RedEye.

It may be apt to quote the words Revolution, by, um, the Beatles here, who seem to talk of a ‘plan.’

You say you got a real solution
Well you know
we’d all love to see the plan
You ask me for a contribution
Well you know
We’re all doing what we can