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Firm 'frees up' top tunes
A firm which allows music fans to listen to tracks over the Internet for free, has signed a deal with a recording giant.
We7, based at the Oxford Business Park, has revealed that more than 500,000 tracks from SonyBMG will now be available on its website for no charge.
Each song will be preceded by a short advert, meaning that the artist will still receive royalties for their work.
Artists include Take That, Mark Ronson, The Hoosiers and TV's X Factor winner Leona Lewis.
Steve Purdham, chief executive of We7, said: "To date music fans have really only had two choices to get the music how they want it - buy or steal.
"Today we're changing that by putting the fans and artists first to deliver a fresh new alternative. Simply fans get the music they want and now have the choice of paying with their money or paying with a small amount of their time. So everybody is happy".
Currently the Sony catalogue is only available to play or "stream" on the site rather than download for free.
But We7 bosses hope the tracks will be available to download with the advertising, once Sony BMG has evaluated the revenue being generated compared to download costs and CD sales.
We7 was set up last year as an alternative to paid for sites such as Apples iTunes and illegal music dowload sites where artists receive no royalties.
11:31am Monday 28th April 2008
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