MTV Networks is expected to launch an online music service powered by MusicNet later this year, making it the latest big brand to enter an increasingly crowded market for online music, people familiar with the plan said on Thursday. Both MTV, a unit of Viacom Inc, and MusicNet, a joint venture of RealNetworks and three labels, Bertelsmann AG"s BMG, EMI Group Plc and Warner Music, declined to comment.
MTV has indicated before that it wanted to enter the digital music arena, a market which is gaining momentum with the advent of popular services like Apple Computer Inc"s popular iTunes service. MusicNet is a business-to-business company that charges its clients fees for offering them the technology, the infrastructure and its catalog of licensed music to develop digital music services. Its customers include Time Warner Inc"s America Online and Virgin Group Ltd, which plans to launch an online music service in the U.S. and the United Kingdom by late summer, with other markets to follow.