NAPSTER SELECTS LOUDEYE FOR SONG IDENTIFICATION
Loudeye's service also will support Napster's compliance efforts to filter noticed copyrighted content from its current service—which may or may not appease the joint partners in the forthcoming MusicNet service (hitsdailydouble.com, 6/5).
Loudeye will generate the digital fingerprints for more than two million music tracks, using the recently introduced fingerprint technology provided by Napster, which itself was developed by Relatable (hitsdailydouble.com, 5/8). Loudeye will do this by combining its music catalog with new releases, as part of its ongoing licensing relationships with both major and independent record labels.
These fingerprints will allow Napster to verify the identity of files shared on its network, and can be submitted in a court of law as evidence, should the files ever commit a crime.
"Loudeye's contribution is key to enabling Napster to create a membership-based file-sharing experience," said Napster CEO Hank Barry. "Loudeye's fingerprints and metadata will ultimately help us track millions of unique music files on our service, so we can fulfill our commitment to compensate artists, songwriters, music publishers and record companies. Of course, I realize that no one really believes a word I’m saying when I talk about moving toward compliance."
Napster has already received fingerprints and descriptive data from Loudeye and is working to implement fingerprint-based filtering. Fingerprints and descriptive data for newly released material will be added on a weekly basis.
