Universal Bids for New Ears Via EBay

Universal Music Group, which turned heads last month with a plan to slash CD prices, may soon auction other recordings to the highest bidder.

The Vivendi Universal music arm has reached a pact to sell special albums, artist memorabilia and concert tickets on the EBay Inc. auction site, sources say.

The deal, to be announced today, would let Universal tap EBay’s audience of more than 34 million active users at a time when record companies are racing to develop profitable businesses on the Internet and counter the tide of online piracy. The deal comes as Universal also is trying to attract consumers by lowering CD prices by 25%.

Executives familiar with the EBay deal say it is intended to strike a chord with record collectors and hard-core fans who frequent the site. Rival record labels including AOL Time Warner Inc.’s Warner Bros. Records have experimented with promotions on EBay, such as the sale of digital downloads.

For its part, Universal may auction limited numbers of items including signed copies of new CDs before an album’s commercial release and will sell other recordings provided exclusively to EBay.

In its first promotion this month, Universal plans to auction signed guitars and concert set lists from rock band Bon Jovi, a pair of front-row tickets for rap star Jay-Z’s Nov. 25 charity concert in New York and a personal lesson with the drummer from rock band Nickelback. Universal also will auction or sell copies of rare or import-only recordings.

Bruce Resnikoff, president of the company’s Universal Music Enterprises division, said EBay offered a customer base and “a marketing culture that may not exist anywhere else in the world right now.”

“It’s that kind of passion we’ve been looking for in the music business,” he said.