Sony BMG mulling digital music subscription offering

Sony is developing a music service that will be compatible with most music players, and provide unlimited access to the label's catalog.

Sony BMG's catalog includes artists such as Dido, Britney Spears, Sean Kingston, Chris Brown, and Alicia Keys. In an interview with the German paper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, CEO Rolf Schmidt-Holtz did not provide a launch timeframe.

Downloads will be compatible with just about any player, according to the interview, and the basic option will be a 6 to 8 euro per month subscription service allowing unlimited access to music.

In some cases, music may be permitted to be kept and played after the consumer cancels his or her subscription. Sony BMG is also apparently in talks with other labels to bring them on board to the service.

Such talk may be key to any service's overall success. While the label has a considerable number of popular acts, consumers will likely want to see a broader selection.

It was not immediately clear from the report what format the songs will come in, although from recent movement in the industry one could infer it will likely be in MP3 format. Also, the quality of the digital downloads themselves was not known.

Attempts to contact Sony BMG by BetaNews had gone unanswered as of press time, although the company confirmed the report, but declined to provide details to other news outlets.