Music giants Vivendi Universal and Sony have formed a music subsidiary, Duet, in a joint venture to license their music and improve Internet distribution, the head of Vivendi, Jean-Marie Messier, said in Thursday's La Tribune newspaper. Messier said Duet was already operational with a team based in San Francisco and that its main aim was help the two companies sign with online distributors.
He said this could involve selling licences for the companies' music libraries to organizations like MP3.com, of which Vivendi Universal is a shareholder. "Our objective is clear: a maximum of music on a maximum number of platforms ... MP3.com is one of the platforms we could use, but it's not the only one," Messier said. He also said he wanted "to ensure all the guarantees to protect artists and copyright."
Vivendi Universal was formed in December from a mega-merger of Vivendi and Canal Plus of France and Universal, the music and films business of the Canadian Seagrams group. —(AFP)
© Agence France Presse 2000
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
