Peer-to-peer giant seeks legitimacy

The music file-sharing company is trying to shed its pirate image. It just might work, too. NEW YORK (Fortune) -- Recently, Nat Hays, chairman of Brooklyn's independent +1 Records, wanted to break a record by one of his label's new bands, The Morning Benders. So he went straight to Apple's iTunes Music Store. That was no surprise. iTunes is the biggest retailer of digital music. But Hays also enlisted a less expected partner: Lime Wire, the music file-sharing service detested by so many of his major label colleagues. "I consider Lime Wire a really important player in what we are trying to do," said Hays. The major labels couldn't disagree more. The Recording Industry Association of America, their trade group, blames much of the music industry's declining sales - a 12% drop in 2007 alone - on illegal file-sharing made possible... [read full story]