Free, ad-supported music service SpiralFrog launched last month, promising music lovers an opportunity to listen to major label music from their favorite artists for free, so long as they’re willing to put up with advertising. Today, SpiralFrog announced it has entered into a licensing agreement with Sony/ATV music, which may serve to expand the roster of big names, well-known tunes, and major-label talent available via the SpiralFrog service.
“The Sony/ATV music catalog is world class, as it combines the world’s hottest new songs with some of the best evergreen classics of all time,” said SpiralFrog chair and founder Joe Mohen, in a statement. “We’re especially excited to work with Sony/ATV as they continue to grow their impressive roster of songwriters through strategic acquisitions.”
Sony/ATV is a music publishing house, rather than a record label—it’s not part of record label Sony BMG. The company was formed in 1995 as a partnership between Sony and Michael Jackson, when the self-styled King of Pop decided he needed some money to fund his lifestyle. Sony/ATV administered publishing rights to more than half a million songs, many of which are very well-known: The Beatles, Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan, the Everly Brothers, Joni Mitchell, Roy Orbison, Hank Williams, and a host of other performers are all represented.
An agreement wit SpiralFrog clears the way for SpiralFrog to offer compositions in the Sony/ATV catalog for streaming, providing it can secure the rights to a recording from an artist or record label. When a service like SpiralFrog streams music, it not only has to pay a royalty to the music distributor (who, in theory, then pays a portion of that to the artist—although reality is often quite different) but most also pay a royalty to the music’s publisher, who (again, in theory) gives a portion of that fee to the song’s composer.
SpiralFrog currently offers streaming music from artists from Universal Music Group, although the company did ink a deal with major label EMI back in 2006. The service works with Windows XP and Vista.
