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"We are working on an online music subscription service," Sony BMG chief executive Rolf Schmidt-Holtz tells the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper.

"The simplest option would be a flat rate under which a monthly payment would provide access to our entire music catalogue for all digital players, including Apple's Ipod."

Schmidt-Holtz goes onto suggest that a typical subscription could cost between six and eight euros a month, and customers could own some songs after the subscription had ended.

The Sony BMG boss claims that the company is already in talks with other music distributors concerning the scheme, which could get off the ground as early as this year.

Sony BMG already sells a DRM free catalogue through Amazon and recently signed a streaming distribution deal with online music service We7.