BT has kindly agreed to help out its chums in the creative industries with a not-for-profit music download service designed to wean its customers off illegal filesharing.
The move is yet another sign that Ed Vaizey, the communications minister, has been banging heads together at his high-powered meetings between rights holders and internet service providers.
According to a leaked Invitation to Tender document, BT's music download service would be available to its 5.5 million broadband users across the UK. BT says it will unveil the product "in the near future", while talks are thought to be ongoing with major music labels such as Universal Music and EMI.
Although BT has promised to forgo a profit on the service for the first six to nine months – meaning it will be free to access for its customers – the ISP will introduce charging after that time.
Exactly what that subscription model will look like is currently subject to much hair pulling, though a few lessons can be learned from past and present digital music hits and misses.
The move brings to mind BSkyB's ill-fated foray into music with Sky Songs, which was put out of its misery in December after about a year. Loved by music execs but loathed by the fans, BT would do well to steer clear of a purely subscription-based offering.
That would leave BT Beats – for that's what we shall christen it for the time being – using a freemium model, as pioneered by the Anglo-Swedish streaming service Spotify. With 1 million paying customers in Europe – representing a significant 15% of its almost 6 million music fans – Spotify is the king of new music models.
Why Spotify has not been sat alongside Universal, Sony, EMI and Warner at Vaizey's roundtables is anyone's guess. But that doesn't mean that Daniel Ek's music service hasn't been flirting with ISPs even further behind the scenes.
From what we understand, Spotify has been in talks with major ISPs, not just Virgin Media, about potential partnerships. If ISPs were to go where Sky has failed, they would presumably prefer to partner with the $1bn-valued start-up, whose loyal customer base continues to grow, than to go head to head with a rival service. We all know what happens when you do that.
While Vaizey's behind the scenes tenacity may be winning a fig leaf or two for the music industry, BT and TalkTalk continue to fight the very same rights holders in the high court.
Monday is expected to be the final day of the Digital Economy Act's judicial review, though no verdict is expected for another five to six weeks.
