Baby steps. EMI is experimenting with a DRM-free mp3 from Lily Allen. The track, available for £1.50 by sending a text message to a special number.

Hypebot writes, "[We've] written for months that restrictive DRM along with fixed pricing is slowing digital growth and driving consumers to less than legal alternatives. Perhaps the labels are finally waking up to this reality. Let's hope that this is not an isolated experiment for EMI, but the beginning of a trend."

Allen came out of (not quite) nowhere over the last year, trumping her label by pushing her own brand of hip-hop pro-fem humor and gaining an incredible amount of attention. She's since had some PR gaffs in her home country, but is starting to make real inroads in North America. Her album Alright, Still is a bit uh, blue, in places but, remains the funniest and most re-listenable female hip-hop I've heard in ages. Think P!nk for fans of satire, and you're still not even close.

[via Hypebot]