The online music service Snocap said today that it would allow independent artists and small record labels to register their songs to receive payment when they are traded over Internet peer-to-peer networks.
Snocap, the latest venture of Napster founder Shawn Fanning, uses digital "fingerprint" technology to identify songs that are swapped online.
Peer-to-peer networks can use Snocap to block unauthorised copies of songs and replace them with protected versions that can be controlled by their owners.
Only one peer-to-peer service has signed up to use Snocap so far, but the company says it is in talks with others.
Snocap officials hope that existing peer-to-peer services like Kazaa and LimeWire will turn to Snocap as a way to end their legal battles with recording companies and convert the millions of songs that are copied over their networks into a steady revenue stream.
Three out of the four major labels -- Universal Music Group, Sony BMG and EMI Group -- have registered their songs with Snocap, as have larger independent labels like TVT and Rykodisc.
Snocap said it is in talks with the fourth major label, Warner Music Group.
Snocap founder Fanning first shot to notoriety when he turned the music industry upside down with Napster, the first software program that allowed users to copy music from each other's hard drives for free.
Napster has since been re-launched as an industry-approved download service.
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