Kazaa to Pay $10 Million to Music Publishers

The National Music Publishers' Association revealed that it has come to an agreement with Kazaa, following which the file-sharing network has settled to pay music publishers a consistent amount. Neither Sharman Networks - the company operating Kazaa - nor the National Music Publishers' Association have disclosed the confidential financial details of the settlement. However, reports generated from sources close to the agreement have pointed out a sum of $10 million.

Kazaa announced the settlement in US District Court in Los Angeles while reinstating the fact that it will continue to implement content filtering technologies to prohibit unauthorized sharing of copyrighted music over the network.

"The settlement will be another key milestone of the ongoing transformation of the digital music marketplace to one that will allow legal services to thrive," stated NMPA President and Chief Executive David Israelite.

In July 2006, Sharman Networks has settled a copyright infringement lawsuit with music labels and movie studios and has agreed to pay $115 million.