Spanish website to offer unlimited music downloads because of loophole

The
company's predecessor, WebListen.com, is still operating despite having
been repeatedly sued by European record labels. Puretunes, with a US-based
publicity agent, appears to be focusing more heavily on the
English-speaking world, however. Each claims to be legal and says it will
compensate labels and artists for distribution of their
works.

In an apparent bid for publicity -- and
in what will certainly spark record companies' ire further -- Puretunes'
first affiliate distributor is Grokster, the file-swapping software
company that recently won a clean legal
bill of health from a Los Angeles
federal judge.

Whether it's a good deal for record
labels and artists remains to be seen. The company says it has secured
licences from two Spanish rights agencies that allow it to distribute
music online without explicit authorisation from the record labels and
publishers.

Allen Dixon, general counsel of the
International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, calls the Spanish
companies' claims to have legal licences "complete nonsense". WebListen
has lost several rounds in Spanish court so far, and shows no sign of
success in any of more than half a dozen lawsuits pending against it, he
said.