FBI Logo to Grace Music CDs

The FBI is coming to the local record store.

The music industry has won permission to include the agency’s logo in CD packaging as a warning against unauthorized copying, sources said. Record labels want to use the logo the way it is used by movie studios, which include an on-screen warning on home videos and DVDs.

The deal, hammered out by the Recording Industry Assn. of America and FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III, comes as record labels try to dissuade Internet users from sharing copyrighted music online. The labels have filed hundreds of lawsuits against people who allegedly shared music illegally.

How the logo will be displayed is up to individual labels, sources said. Many discussed placement of the logo – and a warning about possible criminal prosecution for illegal copying – on the back of the disc packaging. Label executives also have discussed including software that displays the warning when a CD is put into a computer.

The RIAA declined to comment. An FBI representative couldn’t be reached.