Yahoo is selling personalized Jessica Simpson music without Digital Rights Management.

Ian Rogers wrote Wednesday on the Yahoo music blog that Yahoo is offering personalized and DRM-free versions of "A Public Affair." Buyers can have their names included in the song so it speaks to them.

The recording industry has been pushing for increased DRM and copyright protection laws and enforcement to prevent piracy, which they say is hurting music sales. While independent labels and musicians offer music downloads without copyright protection, Sony BMG's release of a DRM-free song from Simpson marks a sharp turn in the company's tactics.

"Let me tell you, this is a bigger deal than you might think," he explained. "As you know, we've been publicly trying to convince record labels that they should be selling MP3s for a while now. Our position is simple: DRM doesn't add any value for the artist, label (who are selling DRM-free music every day " the Compact Disc) or consumer."

Rogers said that only technology companies gain by locking people into a particular platform. He said DRM is costly for Yahoo and the company would prefer to have their engineers focusing instead on enhanced personalization, recommendations and applications.

Rogers said he thinks personalized copies are worth $1.99, or double the going rate for downloading songs, even without the increased versatility they offer " not to mention that the song will work with DJ and other software as well as different devices.

Yahoo has not mentioned any plans to expand its DRM-free offerings and did not respond to voicemail messages Friday.

Dave Goldberg, Yahoo vice president and general manager of music, appealed to record company executives in February to reconsider their insistence on DRM.