Sony BMG is planning to sell songs without digital rights management, according to a report Friday on BusinessWeek.com.
The resulting hoo-hah also sparked lawsuits from vexed customers and left Sony BMG parleying with lawyers over an appropriate settlement.
Initially the site will offer 1 million, DRM-free songs (ramping up to 5 million) from Sony BMG, Warner Music, and EMI.
ENGADGET: Sony Ericsson's PlayNow Arena: 1 million, DRM-free songs on Monday
When it launched in October 2008, Spotify publicized music rights deals with Sony BMG Music, Universal Music, Warner Music, EMI and Merlin.
The court ruled that that the commission relied on scant evidence to decide that Sony BMG Music Entertainment would not be too powerful.
Currently its locker accepts content only from the Web sites of customers that include Fox Music, Fox Sports Mobile, Sony BMG, TVT Records and Walt Disney .
By early January 2008, a few months after Amazon MP3 launched, the three other major labels--Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, and Sony BMG--dropped DRM.
She's had a modestly successful recording career--her newest album is the fifth she has recorded for Sony BMG, the joint venture between Sony and Bertelsmann A.G.
And Sony BMG will join EMI, Universal Music Group and a pack of independent labels that sell so-called digital rights management-free music in Amazon MP3, the company's music store.
Apparently, Sony BMG Music has already expressed interest in being a "potential partner, " and Universal is now trying to convince Warner Music Group to come on board as well.
ENGADGET: Universal fixing to start a music subscription service?
Since X-Factor gave Jedward the hook the brothers have performed with Vanilla Ice, signed a record deal with Sony BMG and auditioned to appear in the final Harry Potter movie.
In 2005 it was discovered that global recorded music company Sony BMG, now renamed Sony Music Entertainment, had included what amounted to spyware on some of the CDs they marketed.
For pesky illegal downloaders, eschewing a trial for a several thousand dollar fine has been a less burdensome way to settle things with the likes of Andrew Lack 's Sony BMG .
We're tempted to call this one "Son of Sony, " though it looks like it was conceived all on its own with no help from the likes of Sony BMG or its partners.
The union, which puts artists ranging from Aerosmith to Britney Spears all under one roof, made Sony BMG the No. 2 record company in the world, just behind Vivendi 's Universal Music Group .
The service will first be rolled out in the Nordic countries on Monday morning, and will initially include one million tracks from the largest global music labels, including Sony BMG, Warner Music, and EMI.
ENGADGET: Sony Ericsson's PlayNow Arena: 1 million, DRM-free songs on Monday
That questionable practice led EMI, Sony BMG, Warner Music and Universal Music to sue Baidu for copyright infringement in 2005, though a Beijing judge ruled last year that Baidu could legally link to copyrighted materials.
In late July, Amazon was in talks with MySpace about becoming the social networking giant's download store partner when it rolls out its highly anticipated joint venture with Universal, Warner Music and Sony BMG in September.
She's had a modestly successful recording career--her newest album is the fifth she has recorded for Sony BMG, the joint venture between Sony (nyse: SNE - news - people ) and Bertelsmann A.G.
Nevertheless, the four defendants were found guilty of 33 specimen charges, so they will have to pay compensation to 17 different music and media companies, including Warner Brothers, Sony BMG, 20th Century Fox, Universal Music and EMI.
That questionable practice led EMI (other-otc: EMIPY - news - people ), Sony BMG, Warner Music and Universal Music to sue Baidu for copyright infringement in 2005, though a Beijing judge ruled last year that Baidu could legally link to copyrighted materials.
You probably already know that Sony BMG has started selling at least some CDs that include built-in copy-protection, making it difficult to play the CDs on a computer using any media player other than the one bundled on the CD, and limiting the number of copies you can make.
Sony BMG, a joint venture of Chief Executive Sir Howard Stringer 's Sony (nyse: SNE - news - people ) with Bertelsmann, is now offering free music downloads as well as cash refunds to those who bought the music disc, as part of a proposed settlement of lawsuits, according to U.K. media reports.
On the other hand, one might also want to consider that in September, Baidu's music accessibility got slammed by a quadumvirate of Warner Music Group, Vivendi Universal 's Universal Music Group, EMI Group and Sony BMG (half-owned by Sony), which all filed suits against the Chinese e-commerce firm (see: " Bronfman Leads Music Bigs In Baidu Piracy Lawsuit").
Live Nation, Sony, BMG Rights, KKR and Bertelsmann were also said to be in the mix.
FORBES: Blavatnik Close To Winning Billionaire Battle For Warner Music
Big music companies like Vivendi's Universal Music Group, Sony-BMG Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and EMI Group are already experiencing a sharp decline in sales of compact discs.
Big music companies like Vivendi's Universal Music Group, Sony-BMG Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group (nyse: WMG - news - people ) and EMI Group are already experiencing a sharp decline in sales of compact discs.
Many music insiders are sceptical about just how advanced Sony's talks with BMG are the companies admit that they have yet to do their due diligence.
Sony ( SNE - news - people ) BMG and auditioned to appear in the final Harry Potter movie.
应用推荐