By Joey Gardiner, 15 November 2000 18:37
NEWS MP3.com has entered into a royalty deal, which will see it pay money for legally holding files of UMG music on its site. UMG has also reportedly bought a 5 per cent stake in MP3.com, for $250,000. UMG is the last major record label to make a deal with MP3.com, who now has royalty agreements with all of the big five. MP3.com allows users to download MP3 files of songs they already own, therefore negating the copyright issues. However UMG argued MP3.com did not ensure that copyrights were not being violated. The news follows a landmark deal made last month between music giant BMG and file-sharing service Napster. Tim Grimsditch, analyst at Forrester Research, said: "Following the Napster deal this is one more step along the way for music companies finally beginning to accept the digital distribution of music after a year in denial."
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