Universal Music Group has entered into an agreement with the ad-driven digital music service FreeAllMusic.com.

Digital music portal eMusic and Warner Music Group have announced an agreement for eMusic to begin offering tracks to American-based members from Warner's artist roster. The list of titles that have been made available include those from Warner's stable of imprints, including Atlantic, Rhino, and Word Records.

“As a leader in the music industry’s transition to a predominantly digital music business, we have worked hard to encourage and support innovative partners and creative business models that offer our artists unique ways to reach their fans,” states Stephen Bryan, Senior VP/Digital Strategy and Business Development, for Warner.

“Our editors look forward to contextualizing WMG's catalog with the unique eMusic sensibility our members have come to expect,” shares Danny Stein, eMusic President/CEO. “We're excited to work with Warner Music Group's labels, and by focusing on their hidden gems as well as classic albums, help them increase sales across their entire catalog.”

eMusic’s catalog totals more than 7 million tracks with the company selling monthly memberships  beginning at 24 credits for $11.99. The site has sold more than 350 million downloads under its current ownership.

The past year saw 1.545 billion purchases between record labels and artists and the music consumer. A great number compared to 2008 which saw purchases of 1.513 billion, showing an increase year-to-year for the music industry overall.

The good news ends quickly after the individual purchase numbers however, as physical album sales dropped by a staggering 12.7 percent. That figure equates to over 40 million less units sold in 2009. One of the better signs for the industry was that digital tracks hit the billion sold again for the second year in a row. Universal won the label album share war as they sold 30.2 percent of all CD's purchased, compared to the label with the next best piece of the pie, that being Sony with 28.6%, up over significantly with Michael Jackson's catalog sales surging after his passing.

Citigroup is reportedly lining up buyers to put pressure on Terra Firma, the present owners of EMI Music Group. According to reports by multiple publications, the bank is wanting Terra Firma boss Guy Hands to sell the troubled company so that Citigroup can recoup some of the money it made available in loans for the EMI purchase in 2007.

At the same time, Hands is suing the bank for its role in the auction of EMI. The probable sale, likely to only be worth half the multi-billion dollar deal it sold for in 2007, will need the stamp of approval from Hands so that the private equity firm can recoup some of its losses in the deal.

Citigroup is moving forward with a potential sale because it is concerned that Terra Firma might default on interest payments due, forcing the bank to seize EMI and run the company internally which it is not in favor of doing.

While EMI has experienced cost-cutting moves during their '09-'10 fiscal year that ends in March, the company continues to lose money. Three potential buyers have been approached that include Warburg Pincus, EQT out of Sweden, and the long mentioned Warner Music which would face regulatory issues if they were in fact to purchase EMI.