EMI Music Signs With Peer-to-Peer Service

EMI Music became the fourth major recording company to agree to make its music available over a legal peer-to-peer service that hopes to lure customers from illegal sharing programs.

Peer Impact, which Wurld Media Inc. plans to roll out by the end of March, had announced licensing deals in November with the three other major companies: Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group.

Peer Impact is among a new breed of legal P2Ps run in cooperation with media companies and designed to compete with centralized download services such as Apple Computer Inc.’s iTunes. Proponents say decentralized P2P networks ease strain on servers and require less bandwidth.