Podcasting start-up PodShow has launched PodSafe, a network for musicians and podcasters designed to give “access to music, other content and tools to create royalty-free podcasts.”
Playlouder, an ISP launching in September, has partnered with Sony BMG to allow customers to share Sony licensed music with others on its network. “The deal signals the first time that music fans can use existing popular peer-to-peer (P2P) applications such as Kazaa, eDonkey and Limewire, to share music in an unrestricted and sanctioned way,” notes BBC News.
Warner Music Group is creating a new music-distribution model, called an “e-label,” in which artists will “release music in clusters of three songs every few months [as digital downloads] rather than a CD every few years.”
Macworld UK reports that the UK Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has shut down “free iPod” schemes in the UK: “The promoters of the scheme—which offered a variety of claimed high-tech ‘free gifts’ in return for buying low-value products—have given what the OFT calls a ‘binding agreement’ not to promote such schemes.”