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On the heels of startup SpiralFrog's agreement with Universal Music Group, the soon-to-be free music download service also signed on EMI Music Publishing to expand its online catalog.

Due to be launched in beta later this year, SpiralFrog adds EMI artists like Sting, Nelly Furtado, and Kanye West. In addition to music downloads, the company also acquired a worldwide license to allow users to search for display EMI lyrics.

"We are very pleased to help launch SpiralFrog, said Roger Faxon, Co-CEO of EMI Music Publishing. It is a very exciting concept which fuses advertising with music downloads and other services to recapture consumer demand which has been hijacked by online piracy."

Because nobody ever thought to let people listen for free by pairing up advertising with music before. I'll bet corporate-speak master and SpiralFrog CEO Robin Kent, formerly of Universal McCann, is just delighted.

"Obtaining these rights helps ensure that SpiralFrog can provide young consumers with access to recordings from a wide range of artists that they want to hear," he said. "We are delighted to obtain global rights to song lyrics as this is further value that we can add for our users, while driving even more advertising revenue for the music composers."

Try not to romanticize it so much, Robin.

Kent called the agreement with Universal and EMI "clear signs that the music industry recognizes the revenue potential of an advertising-supported business model."

That's better.

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