Thanks to a licensing deal set to be announced today by digital music service Pressplay, consumers will finally get what they always wanted: Britney on demand.
Netco, backed by Vivendi Universal and Sony, has inked a pact with Zomba Music, home to the wildly successful teen-pop imprint Jive Records, to make Jive's digital library of tracks available for streaming and download. The label's catalog, whose sales rep about 6% of the entire U.S. music market, includes such pop megasellers as Spears, 'N Sync, the Backstreet Boys and R&B crooner R. Kelly.
For the moment, however, Pressplay users will not be able to burn any copies of Zomba-owned songs onto a CD -- a capability currently offered on a limited, case-by-case basis for some of the service's partner labels.
Agreement is Zomba's second pact to make music available over the Net in recent months -- the company also cleared its wares for use on MusicNet, a rival subscription offering supported by EMI, AOL Time Warner and Bertelsmann, whose BMG Music group distributes Jive.
Zomba is also the second label to cross between the Pressplay and MusicNet camps: EMI, a founding supporter and 20% stakeholder in MusicNet, licensed its digital content to Pressplay.
Also licensed to Pressplay are the libraries of Universal, Sony and 10 other indies besides Zomba.
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