.music Web domain concerns recording industry

The recording industry is singing the blues over a new online addressing rule that will allow for the creation of a “.music” domain.

The new domain name system was approved in June by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, the nonprofit organization that oversees the Internet addressing system. The music industry is concerned that the new system could allow online pirates to buy new domain names that help make their websites look more legitimate — encouraging more copyright infringement of digital music. One of the main concerns is that music pirates could register Internet addresses under the domain .music to make it appear to Web surfers that the music on its site is legal and licensed by recording companies. “Because these generic top-level domains are so specialized, people may think, ‘This is where I go if I want music,’” said Steven Marks, general counsel for the Recording Industry Association of America. “Therefore, we have the same kind of [copyright infringement] problem we have today.”