Vivendi puts entire music catalogue online

Recording industry giant Vivendi Universal has announced plans to make its entire catalogue of music available for download over the internet - with the obvious proviso that consumers pay for what they play.

Vivendi was one of the major labels that hounded Napster through the US courts and eventually forced its closure - but now, like rival labels the company is turning to the online world to boost flagging revenues.

Music fans will be able to download tracks by Vivendi artists for $0.99 per song - but whether it will be enough to start drawing in users of surviving free file-sharing services such as KaZaA or Morpheus is yet to be seen.

The 'big five' labels - BMG, EMI, Sony, Vivendi and Warner - have all signed deals in the past year with various digital distributors, such as MusicNet and PressPlay, in an attempt to push their music into the online marketplace through subscription services. However, such deals have been characterised by limited availability of music from the labels' extensive catalogues.

Often big name acts and major new releases have been kept away from such services but now Vivendi says it will be making all its music available, including top-name acts such as bad-boy rapper Eminem and Irish rock band U2.