Amazon is reportedly 'aggressively' courting the four main music publishers to be part of its online music store, but the chairman of one of Sony's music publishing companies has accused the retail giant of mounting 'another land grab'.
Amazon launched its iTunes competitor on Tuesday, but the talk of the music town is that major labels were left a little nonplussed by the lack of warning.
However, according to the Wall Street Journal, who have spoken to 'people familiar to the matter' Amazon is now mounting a speedy charm offensive to win back the key players in the music industry.
Major labels
The four major labels are Sony Music Entertainment, EMI Group, Warner Music group and Universal Music Group – and a successful music store would need to have the majority if not all of them on board to become a genuine challenger to Apple's hugely popular, and also widely disliked, iTunes.
However, at least one section of Sony is not happy with Amazon, with the managing director of Sony/ATV Music Publishing (the joint venture involving Michael Jackson's estate) making his feelings clear.
"This is just another land grab," Martin Bandier told the WSJ. "I can't make it any plainer than that. It's really disrespectful, and of course we are considering all of our options."
