Napster yesterday announced that it has reached a licensing deal
with MusicNet. MusicNet is a subscription music venture that was
jointly created by software company RealNetworks and three of the
five major record labels, Warner Music Group, Bertelsmann, and EMI
Recorded Music. Napster says the deal will allow it to sell rather
than swap music from the record labels involved in MusicNet once it
launches its new secure service this summer.
However, both EMI and Warner have issued statements saying that
conditions were not yet in place to forge a full music content
deal. The conditions attached to the deal mean that the record
labels will not permit their content to be carried on to Napster
until it has transformed itself into a non-infringing service. In
its statement, Warner Music says:
“Our music will not be available to Napster
as part of the MusicNet service until we are reasonably satisfied
that Napster is operating in a legal, non-infringing manner and has
successfully developed a technology that accurately tracks the
identity of files on the service.”
Bertelsmann has declined to comment, but its BMG music division
has said that the lawsuit it is currently pursuing against Napster
remains in place. BMG is quoted by Reuters as saying:
“In the interests of our artists, BMG remains a party to the
Napster lawsuit which concerns the existing unsecure Napster
service and does not pertain to a new service”.
Napster has seen a sharp decline in users since it began
attempts to bar the swapping of copyrighted songs in March. The new
business model is likely to anger Napster’s millions of fans who
had hoped it would continue its battle against the recording
industry.
