PEER IMPACT THROWS ITSELF INTO THE ONLINE MUSIC ARENA

Peer Impact signs up three out of the four major record labels for online music distribution rights:

The deals with Peer Impact, a new division of online marketing company Wurld Media, continues the labels' gradual warming trend toward peer-to-peer services. Top label executives have increasingly said they are willing to support file-swapping networks, as long as no pirated songs appear alongside authorized works.

For now, Peer Impact's partners include Universal Music, Sony BMG and the Warner Music Group. The company remains in negotiations with EMI Music and plans to launch the file-swapping service in early 2005.

Songs will cost 99 cents, as they do at Apple Computer's iTunes and other download stores, and they'll be wrapped in copyp-protection technology. But executives say the file-swapping technology can help build relationships between customers in a way ordinary Net music stores can't. (full article)