Google’s YouTube and the Universal Music Group, the world’s largest music label, are in advanced discussions over a licensing agreement that could lead to the creation of a premium site for music videos, according a person briefed on the talks.

The discussions remain fluid and the terms of the agreement, which could not be learned, are still being negotiated. A final deal could still be weeks away, and its terms may be different from those being discussed currently, the person said. Read the rest of this entry »

The British government outlined plans on Thursday to bring broadband Internet service to every home in Britain by 2012, and proposed ways to support the music industry and other media businesses by cracking down on online piracy.

The communications minister, Stephen Carter, is eager for the media, telecommunications and technology sectors to pick up part of the slack as other parts of the British economy, including financial services, decline. By 2012, the government said in a report, 20 percent of all commerce in Britain will occur online.

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Nokia, the world’s top mobile phone maker, plans to roll out its unlimited music service in Australia and Singapore later this quarter and is eyeing further expansion in Europe and the United States.

Tero Ojanpera, the head of entertainment and communities at Nokia, told the MidemNet annual digital music gathering in Cannes that the roll out would continue following a good experience in Britain.

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In moves that will help shape the online future of the music business, Apple said Tuesday that it would remove anticopying restrictions on all of the songs in its popular iTunes Store and allow record companies to set a range of prices for them.

Beginning this week, three of the four major music labels — Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group — will begin selling music through iTunes without digital rights management software, or D.R.M., which controls the copying and use of digital files. The fourth, EMI, was already doing so.

In return, Apple, whose dominance in online music sales gives it powerful leverage, agreed to a longstanding demand of the music labels and said it would move away from its insistence on pricing all individual song downloads on iTunes at 99 cents.

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After a 19-month battle over Internet radio royalties, a truce between record labels and webcasters is finally in sight that would allow Internet radio start-ups to eke out an existence for at least a little while longer.

The two sides have signaled that they are nearing a compromise that would lower the royalties that online radio stations pay artists and labels for the rights to stream songs to listeners. On Sept. 30, they jointly persuaded Congress to pass a bill that would put into effect any changes to the royalty rate to which the parties agree while lawmakers are out of session.

Still, even if royalties decrease as expected, webcasters must figure out how to bring in enough revenue to cover the costs.

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Britons who have only ever used Apple’s iTunes to buy digital music suddenly have a new and attractive toy: a Nokia mobile music service which offers thousands of tracks for free.

Nokia’s new “Comes With Music” phones are not just a boon for the Apple-averse: parents, worried about piracy may also take to the subscription service.

“Comes With Music” phones make their global launch in Britain on October 16, offering unlimited music from the four major music labels and many independents which can be kept after the yearly contract has expired.

The individual tracks can be downloaded to a single computer, and are free — although the cost of that music is reflected in the price of the phone itself.

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