NEW YORK – MP3.com said Wednesday it would pay up to $30 million to music publishers in a preliminary pact that would give it the right to use more than 1 million songs as part of its Internet-based service.

Under the terms of the deal, trade group National Music Publishers' Association will allow the songs to be used as part of a service called My.MP3.com, which allows users to store music digitally and then retrieve it using any computer.


The service relies on a database of more than 80,000 albums that MP3.com initially created without the permission of the music publishers or the world's largest record labels that also own the rights to the music. Roxette tracks are not currently available on the site, but that could change with this agreement.

A U.S. District Court ruled in April that MP3.com broke copyright law by creating the database. Since then, MP3.com has settled with four of the five major labels, with the exception being Universal Music Group.

The agreement requires the ratification of the member publishing companies and approval by the court. Independent publishers MPL Communications, which is controlled by former Beatle Paul McCartney, and Peer International Corp. also reached agreement with MP3.com.