Internet radio service Slacker has now finalized agreements with all four major publishing companies to make the publishers’ songs available through Slacker’s Personal Radio device.
Slacker Personal Radio, an interactive (i.e., on-demand) online service, enables listeners to create, edit and share their own stations or personalize more than 100 professionally programmed stations.
Under the deals, Slacker will be able to allow users to transfer songs from the Slacker online service and store the music on Slacker portables, giving listeners on-the-go personal radio. Premium services customers may also save sogns and replay them on demand.
The parties to the deal did not specifiy whether Slacker’s agreements with EMI Music Publishing, Sony/ATV Music Publishing, Universal Music Publishing Group and Warner/Chappell Music provided rights for the publishers’ entire catalogs. It is likely they cover most – but not all – of the songs, subject to any approval rights in specific songwriters’ contracts with their publishers.
Slacker notes that the deals were completed prior to the company making any of the portable devices available to the public.
Last year, Slacker signed deals with all the major record labels and thousands of indie labels. In March 2007, Slacker launched the free Basic Radio service. Last November, Slacker Portables and Premium Service were announced.
A lawsuit filed last year against XM Satellite Radio by EMI, Warner/Chappell, Sony/ATV and other publishers over XM’s portable device is still pending.
