eMusic, a legal online music store, has warned that plans by some major UK ISPs to launch joint broadband and music service deals could unfairly penalise existing online distribution sites.

There is also a very real fear that some ISPs might end up favouring their own services with extra bandwidth, which could hinder access to rivals and edges dangerously into the tedious 'net neutrality' debate:


However both BT and Sky Broadband have rejected the concerns, not least because the products themselves have yet to even exist:


Never the less, such fears are not without merit; if the first port of call for your Internet access (an ISP) is offering a cheap and legal online music service then many might see no reason to look for an alternative. On the other hand it could be argued that existing legal services have not made much of a dent in piracy (original news).

It will certainly not be easy to reconcile the two and some online music sites might indeed feel it appropriate to raise the issue with various competition authorities, thus causing delays and yet more problems for the industry.