BT have announced plans to launch a new digital music service which they claim will "revolutionise" the music industry.
Produced in association with technology firm Blueprint, the new service is being tagged the Open Royalty Gateway. It will provide a facility where content owners can store and manage music, video and editorial for online distribution. Labels load content up to a central BT server and can then control themselves which websites, media or retailers have access to the content, and in what way - the service can supply content to middle men websites or direct to consumers.
On the flip side BT will offer the service to media and retailers offering a one-stop shop for online music content.
Richard Bron, one of the music industry veterans involved in the project, told reporters that BT's new distribution channel was designed to help record labels take control of their digital assets, implying an intent to reverse a trend in the digital music sector which, some say, has given the online retailers like iTunes and Napster too much power. Bron: "At the moment, we're seeing a retailer setting the wholesale price, which doesn't seem to be quite right".
BT will make its profit by taking a small cut of every transaction that takes place via its platform. Insiders say that for that to be viable the company will need to get most of the major labels and retailers on board. Bron remains confident that BT will achieve that once the service properly launches early next year, revealing that they had already tied up a deal with EMI to manage music, videos and exclusive footage from Robbie Williams, and that Australian music retailer Sanity was on board to use the service.