Seattle - Getty Images, a photographic licensing agency, announced on Wednesday that it has acquired Pump Audio, a provider of licensed music from independent artists for use in commercial productions, for $42 million.

The deal marks Seattle-based Getty Images' first foray into music licensing.

"Today there is wide agreement in the music industry that the market for commercial music licensing is fragmented, inefficient and confusing, just as the imagery market once was," said Getty Images CEO Jonathan Klein.

"We are confident that bringing our digital distribution, e-commerce expertise and our customer relationships, as well as our understanding of intellectual property, to the music industry will have a similarly positive impact."

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http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/070620/aqw039.html?.v=17

http://gettyimages.com

http://www.pumpaudio.com