This week, news sites were abuzz with record label EMI's announcement that the company will remove digital rights management (DRM) protections from all of its music sold on the iTunes Music Store. These are the goodies that prevent you from playing your (paid-for) iTunes songs on your Microsoft Zune or burning your downloaded movies bought online to DVD to watch on your television instead of your PC.

And while EMI may be the first major label to heed Steve Jobs' call for less restrictive media, it certainly won't be the last. Expect other major labels to follow suit soon. Music is just the beginning.

Smart companies like EMI see what's happening in the world around them. Today's consumers have, in many cases, literally grown up with the Internet and the open exchange of ideas. Web 2.0, social networking sites like MySpace and "open source" software projects like Linux are all byproducts of society embracing idea exchange. By removing pesky DRM software from its digital music, EMI allows its customers to choose how, when and where they enjoy the music they've legally purchased, as well as what they do with it. Wonderfully "Company 2.0".

There's terrific upside for organizations that understand this new, open communication environment and embrace it. Instead of bringing suit against YouTube for copyright infringement in consumer submitted videos, smart media groups and their marketing teams see the benefits of consumers interacting with their properties and putting their collective marks on them. By removing restrictions and letting consumers do what they want with media, they expose far bigger audiences to their properties and can actually DRIVE interest, not cannibalize sales.

Remember this kid and the Nu Ma Nu Ma Dance?

Without his homemade video featuring that now infamous song, the band would've never made it to perform live on the Today Show. Or have their tune be hummed by the millions of people who saw that clip. And it's quite safe to assume they'd have sold far fewer albums.

Three cheers for EMI and Apple continuing to trust and embrace consumers.