Sky joins Universal to offer new music service
BskyB in the UK recently signed a major deal with Universal Music to launch a new music service. Sky, one of the fastest-growing ISPs in the UK, is one of the first ISPs to really try and make a go of making money from music downloads.
The new deal gives Sky full access to Universal’s back catalog, which is no small archive. Sky has got quite a deal out of the music giant, with the two companies joining together to bring something new in the form of a subscription-based music service that comes with a set number of DRM-free downloads.
It sounds very cool, right? It will be interesting to see how this pans out. The other three of the Big 4 have yet to jump on board, but this is a bold move by an ISP.
There is still no word on whether Universal will send letter to Sky subscribers to “educate” them about why filesharing is a bad way to get free music downloads, as Virgin recently started doing.
The price and launch date for the new service have yet to be revealed.