Rolling Stones sign up for online music download

NEWS The Rolling Stones have finally agreed to sell their music online, according to record label EMI Music, breaking the long-running stand-off which was threatening to undermine digital download services. The venerable rock band's appearance online is both a signal of the increasingly rapid mainstreaming of digital music and a welcome relief to online music companies, which have felt the absence of the Rolling Stones and a few other major bands, such as the Beatles, as a major hole in their appeal to consumers. The band's music will be launched today exclusively on RealNetworks' Rhapsody subscription service. Unlike some of the other well-publicised holdouts - most notably the Beatles - the Stones did not have serious objections to their music being put online. But having a catalogue that spanned nearly 40 years, most of it recorded before digital music rights were even a glimmer in a lawyer's eye, meant that there were complicated contractual issues to work out between the band and its various record labels. Those rights have now been cleared, and fans will soon be able to buy and download the band's music on most of the major online music sites, a spokeswoman for EMI Music said. The Stones' earlier label, ABKCO Records, which holds rights to most of the group's 1960s work, will also allow online distribution of the music for the first time, but only in streaming format. John Borland writes for News.com