EMI Music and Project Playlist Strike Deal

EMI Music and Project Playlist have reached an agreement to add the label’s catalog to the music-sharing service, ending EMI’s involvement in a multi-party lawsuit for copyright infringement filed against Project Playlist. Sony BMG signed a similar deal in December, and Owen Van Natta, the chief executive of Playlist said:

“This partnership will provide us with a wide-ranging selection of content to satisfy our users? appetites to share and purchase music.”

Ronn Werre, president of EMI’s Music Services, stated that “making our music available on a fan favorite like Project Playlist is part of EMI Music’s mission to connect artists and fans and to give fans more ways to discover new artists.”

Project Playlist allows users to upload music and create and share playlists and boasts more than 42 million registered users. However, stiff competition exists in other music discovery services such as LaLa, Imeem, Last.fm, and Spotify.

With many music-based social networks also presenting new ways to advance music business models, the major labels are either suing, like Warner and Universal who intend to pursue their court case against Project Playlist, or joining up to make some easy money off licensing deals.

Do you use a music “discovery” service? Is a service’s catalog size a deciding factor?

Source: AFP