SpiralFrog signs agreement to offer EMI's music for free download

Ad-supported site now counts EMI and Universal as supporters

6 September 2006 12:17 GMT / By Amber Maitland

The highly-touted new music downloading site SpiralFrog has claimed another music industry scalp; EMI has signed on to offer its entire music catalogue for download on the ad-supported site.

The agreement comes after SpiralFrog announced a deal with Universal Music to offer free downloads of Universal artists’ tracks.

Excitement is growing over the yet-unlaunched site, which follows an entirely different business model from market-dominating iTunes. Instead of paying for individual tracks, the music will be available for free, since the website is supported by advertising.

Co-CEO of EMI Music Publishing, Roger Faxon, says, “It is a very exciting concept which fuses advertising with music downloads and other services to recapture consumer demand which has been hijacked by online piracty”.

EMI will offer tracks by its musicians, which include Sting, Nelly Furtado, Jay Z and Kanye West.

SpiralFrog is expected to launch in December.

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