Universal clinches new Loudeye deal: major re-affirms working relationship with digital partner after months of tense talks.(Downloads)

Universal and OD2 owner Loudeye have re-affirmed their commercial relationship after seven months of intense negotiations.

The talks, which were concluded last week, are understood to have seen the major push for new pricing terms. An original deal, struck between the pair in November 2002, concluded last June, leaving Universal and Loudeye initially to continue working together under the terms of a day-by-day rolling contract.

It is understood Universal issued Loudeye with a revised contract at the beginning of December which did not meet the approval of the 0D2 owner. Consequently, the major, whose artists Gwen Stefani and Eminem filled the top two slots on the official UK Download Chart a week ago, is then believed to have issued take-down notices to OD2 and some of its larger online retailers after Loudeye failed to sign Universal's agreement.

According to sources, negotiations broke down over pricing in regard to OD2's range of around 70 retail partners across Europe, while Universal was also pushing for OD2 to improve its customer offering by having iTunes-style ease-of-navigation on the websites it supplies such as MSN, Tiscali, Virgin, mycokemusic and HMV.

Universal vice president of eLabs Barney Wragg, who declines to go into any details about the new deal, says, "The online music market in Europe obviously became incredibly competitive last year, with new services and various consumer offerings from different retailers. We took a lot of time discussing and exploring this aspect of the business with Loudeye because the whole market benefits when the offerings become even more consumer-friendly than before."

A source at one of the retail partners confirms it was faced with the possibility of not being able to access Universal's repertoire via OD2 as normal. "We received notification that we would no longer be able to access Universal content through the OD2 pool and that if we wanted their music we would have to approach them directly. However, given our resources, that isn't an easy thing to accomplish--for us or anyone," he adds. ...