Digital music service providers MusicNet and Napster have agreed to a three-year deal on royalty rates to pay songwriters and music publishers for digital downloads in Britain. Under the deal, the composers, writers and music publishers will receive 8 percent of gross revenue, excluding VAT, when their music is offered by MusicNet and Napster.
MCPS-PRS Alliance, a U.K.-based organization that represents composers, songwriters and music publishers, agreed to the same deal at the end of September with Apple Computer's iTunes and mobile operators Vodafone, O2, France Telecom's Orange and Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile.
The alliance said in a statement that both parties welcomed the agreement and were committed to working together to drive the ongoing growth in the legitimate digital music market.
MusicNet provides the technology to run services for other brand-name digital music providers. Napster became a legal download site in 2003 after having been forced to close by a series of legal battles over copyright infringement.
