Although Amazon is boasting that its new online music store will feature DRM-free music from more than 12,000 labels, so far only one major – EMI – has signed on for the action.

But that shouldn’t come as a surprise since EMI made news earlier this year when announcing its deal with Apple to sell unprotected MP3s on iTunes.

Amazon has not announced a pricing structure, but the EMI / Apple deal calls for a slightly higher price for DRM-free tracks. Customers wanting the 99 cent per track deal iTunes is known for will still be able to purchase copy protected tracks from its online store.

“Our MP3-only strategy means all the music that customers buy on Amazon is always DRM-free and plays on any device,” said Amazon.com founder / CEO Jeff Bezos. “We’re excited to have EMI joining us in this effort and look forward to offering our customers MP3s from amazing artists like Coldplay, Norah Jones and Joss Stone.”

Winging It

EMI is prepping Paul McCartney’s post Beatle catalog for online distribution.

This marks the first time a former Beatle’s most prolific period will be sold as downloads, although some material from Macca’s later years does pop up at online stores.

The material ranges from McCartney’s first solo album McCartney, and includes all the albums he recorded with Wings, such as Band On The Run and Venus and Mars.

When making the announcement, EMI did not say whether McCartney’s music will be sold as unprotected MP3 files, nor did the label say anything about reported plans to offer the entire Beatles catalog online. Published reports indicate it might be time to “Meet The Beatles” all over again and that George Martin is already hard at work remastering the catalog for online sales.

“Paul McCartney’s post-Beatles catalog, spanning four decades, is one of the great treasures of popular music,” said EMI Music UK chairman and CEO Tony Wadsworth. “EMI is proud to be introducing Paul’s music to the digital marketplace.”