Major Labels Warm To Legal P2P

Warner Music, Sony/BMG and Universal have all signed up to be a part of Peer Impact, a legal peer-to-peer file-sharing network which launches early next year.  The company ensures that artists and copyright holders receive payment for each file shared on the network.  Users will have access to most or all of the catalog of music on those labels with songs wrapped in copy protection technology costing 99 cents.

"Our goal is to populate Peer Impact with the greatest, and most diverse, collection of digital content anywhere," according to Greg Kerber, CEO of Peer Impact's parent company Wurld Media. "We're excited and proud to gain the cooperation of leading record labels and we look forward to concluding even more agreements in the coming weeks." Several news sources have reported that Peer Impact is also currently in negotiations with EMI Music.

CNet News recently reported that Grokster's Wayne Rosso is working on another legal file-swapping service called Mashboxx that will also launch next year; and in Britain, Wippit is already running a peer-to-peer service with music from BMG and EMI.