iMesh Announces Distribution Agreement with Sony BMG Music Entertainment

Press Release: Today's announcement confirms other recent reports that a deal has officially been reached. SONY BMG - which has been pretty agressive lately in the P2P space - will license its digital content for distribution with the New York-based iMesh P2P service. The news follows a major settlement between iMesh and the RIAA with promises to become a legitimate and copyright respecting service by incorporating a centrally managed rights clearinghouse so music companies and publishers can claim compensation for songs being traded...

With an expected launch date by the end of 2005, the new iMesh will offer consumers a broad selection of easily accessible content of all genres to be discovered, shared and enjoyed within an active P2P community. Authorized content will be available through ala carte downloads and a subscription sales plan, allowing users unlimited music downloads, for a low monthly fee. The iMesh community will be able to search, sample and download a growing selection of more than 15 million tracks as part of a shared experience. Apparently, the new iMesh application will use MusicNet on the backend with Audible Magic doing the filtering (identifying songs by their digital "fingerprint" and determining if they are copyrighted.) Universal's catalogue is also reportedly on the way...

Related:
--Sony BMG Reaches Licensing Deal with iMesh - The privately held company also hired former Sony Music President Robert Summer as executive chairman to handle negotiations with the music industry...