Sony's music free to listen from Monday

we7.com changed the face of music distribution when it began giving away DRM-free and completely legal music in 2007, at no cost to listeners. Due to competition from file sharing sites, we7 never reached a mass audience. That is now likely to change.

Sony BMG have allowed we7 access to 250,000 songs its labels have produced over the years and up to the present. The music will be available for playback directly from the site, taking the total number of tracks licensed by we7 – which also include many from minor labels and unsigned artists – to nearly 1 million. Sony are the first of the 'Big Four' major labels to make their music available in this way.

Tomorrow's launch is to come after this week's announcement of we7's deals with large independent publishers InGrooves, BFM Digital and also IRIS, who distribute for renowned indie label Chemikal Underground.

The we7 site allows users to browse its catalogue and add songs, each beginning with a 5-10 second advertisement, to their personal playlist. Many of the songs can then be downloaded in the popular MP3 format.

Just as flagging sales have troubled newspapers for many years now, music sales saw seven straight years of decline up to the most recent figures, released in 2007. The steady rises in internet uptake and usage are likely to be a major factor in those trends. New business models such as we7 hope to generate a steady stream of income for artists by allowing advertisers to take out ads. Writing on the the we7 blog last Friday, co-founder Gareth Reakes claimed that the site is working on the technology to create highly targeted ads by matching copy to 'not just the genre, but the tempo of the music as well'.

The British site, a venture of music industry entrepreneur and multi-platinum-selling musician Peter Gabriel, announced the move only weeks after it was revealed that the UK was considering introducing what the BBC called 'the most stringent and prohibitive anti-piracy laws in the world.' A leaked government document proposed requiring all ISPs to monitor their customers' download activity and to take action against those downloading copyrighted material.