New York - Universal Music Group has signed a deal to license its catalog to Deezer (formerly Blogmusik), a France-based, ad-supported music streaming service,

Paris - Deezer, a France-based, ad-supported music service (formerly Blogmusik, an unlicensed service), has announced a licensing agreement with major label Sony BMG France. The deal includes free access on Deezer to a library of 165,000 Sony BMG songs. Deezer also recently signed an agreement with French copyright society Sacem. Deezer co-founder Jonathan Benassaya told Billboard the company is considering adding an unlimited download feature to its service, where users would pay a subscription fee, and also said the company is in talks with several European ISPs about integrating the service into their offerings. Deezer claims one million registered users for its service.

Paris - BlogMusik, a French site that let users stream MP3 files available on the Web for free, and was subsequently shut down in February at the hands of copyright society SACEM, has re-launched as a copyright-compliant site called Deezer. While Deezer has secured agreements with SACEM, the company said it is still in talks with major music labels and the Society for the Management of Independent Producers' Rights (SPPF). Deezer said it already has hundreds of thousands of users, and has developed its browser-based service in 16 languages.