Reciprocal Partners with Sony Music for Music Downloads

Reciprocal (http://www.reciprocal.com) announced an agreement with Sony Music Entertainment to provide DRM and clearinghouse services for Sony Music labels.

Beginning in late April, consumers will be able to select and purchase tracks from Sony artists from retail websites through Alliance Entertainment, Hastings Entertainment, Tower Records, and others.

The songs will be formatted for playback on the Microsoft Windows Media Player with an ATRAC3 plug-in, and will be compatible with SDMI-compliant portable devices currently on the market.

"With the explosive growth of digital distribution, more and more content companies will require Reciprocal's unique digital rights management tools and services," said John Schwarz, president and CEO, Reciprocal. "We are thrilled that Sony Music Entertainment chose Reciprocal for its first foray into the digital commerce arena, and we look forward to providing them with the services they require for the safe and profitable distribution of their valuable content."

During the past six months, Reciprocal has provided DRM services for download promotions of tracks by Sony Music artists including Alice in Chains' "Again", Train's "Meet Virginia", Savage Garden's "I Knew I Loved You", and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony's "X-Tasy".

"We worked with Reciprocal on several promotional downloads in Microsoft Windows Media format last year, and have been very pleased with the reliability and scalability of Reciprocal's DRM solution," said Al Smith, senior vice president, Sony Music Entertainment. "As we move toward the commercial distribution of digital music, we expect Reciprocal will play an important role in facilitating the secure online delivery of our music to consumers."