iTunes close to being completely DRM Free?

According to Apple Insider, per HypeBot: In order for Warner Music to jump on board with DRM Free music would be dropping the .99 one price for all philosophy and adopting a pay system determined by a songs popularity.  Sony has their own plans.  Their plan includes making iTunes more of an “agency” retailer thereby letting Sony have complete control over prices, much the same that Rhapsody, Amazon, and other online retailers use.  Universal has voiced their opinions as well saying they want a sort of “watermark” placed on DRM-free songs that is tied to an iTunes account so that if it did end up on a file sharing site, the person who placed it there could be tracked and dealt with accordingly.

I’m all for DRM-free music.  However the price based on popularity is nothing but greed.  Why should I have to pay more per song because the music I like is more mainstream and costs more as opposed to more indie music which flies under the radar and gets away cheaper.  It isn’t fair.  Also, I don’t see Apple giving Sony that much control away to Sony…It’s just not the way Apple works.  The water mark idea is the only one I see as a legitimate proposal.  The big wigs at these recording companies could not be farther from reality.  Do they even think before opening their mouths and suggesting these ridiculous ideas?  The ONLY thing variable pricing will do is continue to push people to go to P2P sites to download songs illegally.  When they open up the iTunes store and see 5 of their songs they want to download at $.99 and 5 more at $1.29 it’s not going to take a rocket scientist to figure out where they’re going to go for the $1.29 songs.  It sure won’t be iTunes.  The sooner record labels disappear the better off the entire music industry will be.

Source: Apple Insider