Japan Firms Agree to Royalty Talks on Digital Music

TOKYO — Japan's big electronics firms have agreed to negotiate a deal with the Japanese music industry on royalty payments for digital music recordings, a spokesman for the Electronic Industries Assn. of Japan said Tuesday.

The system of royalty payments has not been decided, but will probably involve a levy on purchases of digital recording equipment, either fixed or as a proportion of price, he said.

He said details of how the talks would proceed were not yet finalized, but the EIAJ would probably negotiate with both music companies and musicians.

The companies want to have an agreement in place before giants Sony Corp. and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. start selling rival digital recording machines.