Editor's Note: This story has been changed to clarify the fact that Warner Bros. Records was not involved in the promotion between Petty and MP3.com.
MP3 hub site MP3.com said Wednesday that old-school rocker Tom Petty will promote his new album through its site.
Petty will take orders for his new album, Echo, through MP3.com, as well as through his own Web site.
The promotion also invited MP3.com's unsigned artists to submit a cover of one of Petty's new songs. The winners will play at a Petty concert this summer, and MP3.com voters will get free tickets to see Petty on his next tour.
MP3 has become the de facto audio standard for sending compressed digital music files over the Net. Users love its convenience, but the format also allows for massive amounts of piracy, so major labels have not embraced the format.
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Petty hasn't released any MP3 files of his music for this promotion, though in March he released a song from Echo -- "Free Girl Now" -- in MP3 format on MP3.com. The file was taken down after two days, because Warner Bros. Records, Petty's label, had not approved the promotion, The Boston Globe reported.
Warner Bros. said that it is not involved in the current deal between Petty and MP3.com.
"We don't have a gripe about it," said Bob Merlis, senior vice president of marketing at Warner Bros. Records. "We're hopeful this will generate additional sales for Tom's album, [but] we're not specifically involved in this promotion."
As for the MP3 file posted in March, Merlis said Petty "came to his own conclusion to remove it. We did not force him to do it."
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