Slacker is currently seeking rights which would allow the company hours of interactive radio programming beamed from PCs, wireless networks and satellite signals. The company is also developing a range of handhelds that would store the information.

Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment and several independent labels have agreed to give Slacker rights for the new service, which the company hopes to launch in the second half of 2007. Still, VP of marketing Jonathan Sasse said the company still has terms to work through with publishers, specifically Warner Music Group (WMG) and EMI.

Licensing hurdles have deterred other companies from launching similar services in the past. Other concerns include a lack of considerable advertising revenue to cover content costs of the free ad-supported model Slacker has proposed. Slacker continues to affirm its confidence in securing deals for revenue through the sale of the portable devices. Fees from third-party licensing and from premium services that allow users to listen to tracks on demand are also areas Slacker is looking towards for revenue sources.

According to Reuters, Sasse claims the company is close to an agreement with WMG and at least three leading music publishers.

The Bolt deal officially ends Universal’s lawsuit against the company, which was filed originally in October 2006. Among other resulting benefits, Universal will now gain about half of the proceeds from Bolt’s sale to GoFish. According to London’s Financial Times, the damages allude to previous copyright infringement. Additionally, a licensing fee will be given to Universal for every song that is played on the GoFish website, as well as a cut of the revenue from advertising. Through filtering technology, which will be added to the Bolt.com website in three months, Universal will be able to decipher which materials have been posted to the site

The Bolt deal arrives in the wake of UMG’s settlement with YouTube, which now provides the former with millions of dollars in YouTube company stock and advertising revenue in exchange for Universal’s content. Sony’s Grouper and MySpace are two other websites that are currently involved in legal woes with Universal.

In a statement, UMG’s chief exec Doug Morris defended his company’s actions, stating, “While our preference is to work out similar arrangements with other user-generated sites so that we can bring our music to the widest possible audience, we will continue to be vigilant in protecting our rights and those of our artists and songwriters.”

YouTube, the largest video-sharing site is off the hook after signing a deal with Universal, Sony BMG and Warner Music last week to develop technology that can filter out copyrighted material and share ad revenue. Universal alleges that the sites encourage users to post copyrighted content, and are demanding $150,000.00 for each instance of copyrighted video. Universal is suing on behalf of artists like Bon Jovi, U2, Eminem, Jamie Cullum and Mariah Carey.

On the Bolt.com website, owner Jay Gould posted a message asking users not to upload Universal content. “We understand the love you have for your favorite musical artists, but Bolt respects the rights of copyright owners such as Universal Music and their artists, and we ask that you please do so as well by not uploading their videos to Bolt.”

Universal and YouTube came to the brink of legal action last month before signing their revenue sharing deal. At the time, Universal CEO Doug Morris said he believed that video sharing sites were costing the company “tens of millions of dollars” and that Universals strategy for dealing with such companies would be “revealed shortly.” Universal said it may also go after Sony, the owners of Grouper.

“Offering young consumers an easy-to-use alternative to pirated music sites will be compelling,” said SpiralFrog CEO Robin Kent in a statement. “Offering legally authorized audio and video downloads in an advertising-supported environment works, as our business model is based on sharing our income streams from that advertising with our content partners like Universal.”

All downloaded files contain digital rights management (DRM) to control how users can share a media file and how they can burn them to a CD. SpiralFrog is targeting users between the ages of 13 and 34. A beta version of the service will in launch late 2006.

“Seeing the numbers grow reinforces that we deliver what music fans want,” said Blastro co-founder Fletcher Lee in a statement. “Blastro offers larger viewing windows with no registration required. Those who opt to register can receive 700K streams. And with the addition of Universal Music Group, the list of hip-hop, rock, pop, R&B, Latin and country artists on our sites grows even larger.”

Blastro features content from both mainstream and independent labels. In May, the number of Blastro Network visitors hit 2.1 million and the network delivered 9.6 million video ads. Current Blastro advertisers include American Express, Miramax, Microsoft, Reebok, and major auto manufacturers.