EMI to sell reproducible songs online
LONDON – Breaking from the rest of the recording industry, EMI Group said Monday it will begin selling songs online that are free of copy-protection technology through Apple Inc.’s iTunes Store. The deal, however, doesn’t include music from the label’s biggest act, The Beatles.
ITunes customers will soon be able to buy songs by the Rolling Stones, Norah Jones, Coldplay and other top-selling artists for $1.29, or 30 cents more than the copy-protected version. The premium tunes also will be offered in a higher quality than the 99-cent tracks.
EMI Chief Executive Eric Nicoli said The Beatles music catalog is excluded from the deal, but said the company was “working on it.” He declined to set a time frame for negotiations over the catalog.
The announcement followed calls by Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs earlier this year for the world’s four major record companies, including EMI Group PLC, to start selling songs online without copy-protection software.
•Subprime mortgage lender New Century Financial Corp. filed Monday for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and said it would fire 3,200 workers immediately to better position the company for a possible sale.
Once the second-largest provider of subprime mortgages in the U.S. based on loan volume, the company fell on hard times amid a spike in mortgage defaults caused by borrowers unable to make payments.
New Century, based in Irvine, Calif., filed the bankruptcy action in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.
It said it has agreed to sell its loan servicing business to Carrington Capital Management LLC and its affiliate for approximately $139 million, subject to the approval of the bankruptcy court.
CIT Group and Greenwich Capital Financial Products Inc. have agreed to provide up to $150 million in working capital to facilitate the reorganization process, the company said.
•Drivers and other employees at Greyhound Lines Inc. rejected a company contract proposal, leaving two weeks before their current contract with the bus operator runs out, the company said Monday.
Greyhound had called the proposal its final offer. But Local 1700 of the Amalgamated Transit Union rejected the offer by more than a 3-to-1 margin, union officials said. The union represents 3,300 Greyhound workers, including 3,000 drivers and about half the company’s mechanics.
“We are disappointed in the outcome of the vote because we provided a fair offer to our ATU-represented employees,” President and Chief Executive Steve Gorman said. He said the company had offered better wages and more affordable health care.