MP3.com on Friday (7/28) announced that it had reached a settlement and entered into a licensing agreement with EMI, one of the major record labels represented in a copyright infringement lawsuit that MP3.com lost earlier this year. EMI is the third major record label with whom MP3.com has settled.

“This settlement ensures that copyright owners and creators are compensated fairly," said Jay Samit, senior vice president of new media for EMI, in a joint statement issued by EMI and MP3.com.

The two groups did not disclose the financial details of the settlement, but did outline the parameters of their newly forged licensing agreement. Under the agreement, EMI will allow MP3.com to feature EMI-controlled recordings on its My.MP3.com services. My.MP3.com allows listeners to store and playback music they have ostensibly already purchased on CD.

Earlier this month, EMI began selling through online retailers EMI-controlled albums and singles as digital downloads, offered at roughly the same cost as actual CD versions of the same recordings.

That approach seemed questionable, given that the same recordings could--and, for now, still can--be obtained for free using file-sharing programs such as Napster. Wednesday’s (7/26) ruling by a federal court judge to grant an injunction that is likely to shut Napster down, however, may bode well for EMI and other record labels that are beginning to charge consumers for digital versions of copyrighted recordings.

“A business model where artists, copyright holders and record companies can potentially monetize their music digitally and in an accretive manner is finally emerging,” said MP3.com CEO Michael Robertson in Friday’s (7/28) statement announcing this latest settlement.

Last month, MP3.com settled and struck similar licensing agreements with both Warner Music and BMG, two of the labels also represented in the Recording Industry Association of America’s successful lawsuit against MP3.com.