EMI, which releases music by artists including Coldplay and the Beatles, has discussed various proposals to sell unprotected files through an array of digital retailers, including Apple, Microsoft, Real Networks and Yahoo, said the executives, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
EMI declined to comment.
It is far from clear that the company, which has tested the concept recently by selling a song from Norah Jones in unprotected form, will reach a deal.
But if it does, it would be the first of the four major music companies to distribute its catalog without software designed to limit copying. Because various online retailers use different forms of security software, known as digital-rights management, their services are not always compatible with all music-playing devices on the market.
The debate over the industry's handling of the issue heated up this week when Steven P. Jobs, chief executive of Apple, which leads the market with its iPod and iTunes service, suggested that the music companies offer their music without anti-copying software.
Mr. Jobs's stance drew catcalls from executives at several major labels — though some have experimented by selling a handful of songs in unprotected form, as EMI did with a single from Ms. Jones's new album.
Reports of the EMI plan surfaced in Europe this week when music executive speculated that EMI was close to a deal with several online music services that went beyond the relatively limited experiments with non-copy-protected music that it had conducted so far.
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