SONY BMG IN DEAL WITH SNOCAP

In a move the company says will increase the legitimate online distribution of its recordings, Sony BMG today announced that it has signed an agreement with Shawn Fanning’s Snocap, the Napster founder’s new-leaf digital licensing and copyright management company.

Snocap will provide song identification and copyright management technologies and database services for Sony BMG content made available for sale online. Sony BMG has already begun delivering and registering its content with Snocap, which the company says will allow its various labels to set their own business rules governing the use of each track throughout the world.

"We're very happy to be working with Snocap as we develop an infrastructure that will enable us to further expand our presence in the digital arena, while at the same time protecting the rights of artists and copyright holders from digital piracy," said Sony BMG President, Global Digital Business Thomas Hesse. "Snocap's innovative solutions will help to curb copyright infringement, and will facilitate the creation of legitimate, authorized P2P services."

Said Fanning, who is officially Snocap’s Chief Strategy Officer, "With Sony BMG on board with the Snocap technology, the Internet will become a much richer resource for music fans everywhere. We're very pleased that they see the benefit of what we have to offer, and we look forward to working with them. This is an important step toward the growth of a digital marketplace where consumers can discover, share and purchase music from massively deep catalogs."

Snocap is now in business with the two largest music groups, the company having signed a deal with Universal Music Group last November (see story). Financial terms were not disclosed in either deal.