MP3.com to pay up $30M
Online music site to pay publishers for right to use over 1M recorded songs
October 18, 2000: 8:02 a.m. ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) - MP3.com Inc. said Wednesday it will pay up to $30 million to music publishers in a preliminary pact that will give the online music company the right to use over one million songs as part of its service.
Under terms of the deal, National Music Publishers' Association, a trade group, and its licensing subsidiary, Harry Fox Agency, will allow the songs to be used as part of a service called My.MP3.com, which allows users to store music digitally and then access it via any computer.
The service relies on a database of over 80,000 albums that MP3.com initially created without the permission of the music publishers or the world's largest record labels, which also own the rights to the music.
A U.S. District Court ruled in April that MP3.com (MPPP: Research, Estimates) broke copyright law by creating the database.
MP3.com since has settled with four major labels: Time Warner Inc.'s (TWX: Research, Estimates) Warner Brothers music group, Sony (SNE: Research, Estimates) Music Entertainment, Bertelsmann AG music unit BMG and EMI Group PLC. Time Warner is the parent company of CNNfn.com.
Seagram Co.'s Universal Music Group has not reached an agreement with MP3.com. Following a September ruling on damages by the same court, MP3.com could face up to $250 million in damages. MP3.com said it will appeal the decision.
Copyright 2000 Reuters All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Online music site to pay publishers for right to use over 1M recorded songs
October 18, 2000: 8:02 a.m. ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) - MP3.com Inc. said Wednesday it will pay up to $30 million to music publishers in a preliminary pact that will give the online music company the right to use over one million songs as part of its service.
Under terms of the deal, National Music Publishers' Association, a trade group, and its licensing subsidiary, Harry Fox Agency, will allow the songs to be used as part of a service called My.MP3.com, which allows users to store music digitally and then access it via any computer.
The service relies on a database of over 80,000 albums that MP3.com initially created without the permission of the music publishers or the world's largest record labels, which also own the rights to the music.
A U.S. District Court ruled in April that MP3.com (MPPP: Research, Estimates) broke copyright law by creating the database.
MP3.com since has settled with four major labels: Time Warner Inc.'s (TWX: Research, Estimates) Warner Brothers music group, Sony (SNE: Research, Estimates) Music Entertainment, Bertelsmann AG music unit BMG and EMI Group PLC. Time Warner is the parent company of CNNfn.com.
Seagram Co.'s Universal Music Group has not reached an agreement with MP3.com. Following a September ruling on damages by the same court, MP3.com could face up to $250 million in damages. MP3.com said it will appeal the decision.
Copyright 2000 Reuters All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
