EMI to Change the Face of Online Distribution and Remove DRM?

The following story at MSNBC.com cites the Wall Street Journal which has reported that EMI, the third largest music company and therefore a large influence in the music industry, is considering selling its music in an unprotected MP3 format.

If this eventuates, the vastly unpopular DRM component of online content distribution may be a thing of the past. This signals the most tangible evidence that copy protection is actually hurting the distributors, artists and anyone else associated with the sale of online content - will Apple's iTunes stave off any potential legislative murmurings and remove its DRM as well?