EMI Music is going to start selling music through widgets to be placed into MySpace and artists’ own sites, among others. The widgets are made available through Napster founder Shawn Fanning’s company Snocap‘s MyStore service. (Release). The widgets can be placed by fans on their own sites but are also available on MySpace profiles – what’s beneficial for Snocap is that EMI will let Snocap place MyStores not just on its artists’ MySpace pages but also on their own official artist websites, making Snocap the official direct retail intermediary. (NYT)
The deal extends to EMI’s higher-quality, DRM-free MP3 line-up, making it Snocap’s first HD offering; prices $1.30 per song, and the press release suggests it will be available to U.S. consumers only. It’s the off-site widgetization of music retail. EMI worldwide digital head Barney Wragg: “You don