Deutsche Telekom's Musicload, one of the largest online music stores in Europe, has come out strongly against DRM on account of its effects on the marketplace and its customers, according to German-language Heise Online.

Musicload said in a letter distributed last week that customers are having consistent problems with DRM, so much so that 3 out of 4 customer service calls are ultimately the result of the frustrations that come with DRM. In a business where the major music labels expect to be paid well for their source material, the costs of supporting DRM are borne entirely by the music retailers. If the labels' love affair with DRM is hurting the companies trying to make a go at selling music online, something is horribly wrong.

According to Musicload, DRM "makes the use of music quite difficult and hinders the development of a mass-market for legal downloads." The lack of interoperability is unfair to customers and prevents true competition between music services, in other words.

Musicload itself is in heated competition in Germany with Apple's iTunes Store. Apple's Steve Jobs has come out against DRM as well, although his iTunes Store does not offer DRM-free music despite the fact that many artists have requested it. A new upstart in the online music sales business, Amie Street, has inked deals with a number of top artists to do what Apple thus far has been unwilling to do, while eMusic has seen moderate success selling DRM-free music from independent labels for quite some time now.

Musicload has also tried to differentiate itself by allowing independent music labels to sell their music on the service sans DRM, and the move has reportedly been a success. Championing the "Comeback of MP3," Musicload said that artists choosing to drop DRM saw a 40 percent increase in sales since December, and that more artists and labels are showing interest. The company hopes that DRM-free MP3s make a comeback, though there have been few signs that the major labels are interested. EMI has been toying with the idea, but the company expects resellers like Musicload, Apple and others to carry the supposed "risk" by paying increased fees upfront.