In a stunning move for the digital music community, media conglomerate Vivendi Universal said Sunday that it has agreed to pay $372 million for MP3.com, the pioneering music Web site that Vivendi’s own music unit had previously sued for copyright infringement.
The deal would give the Paris-based conglomerate one of the Web’s best-known music destinations and boost its online reach to more than 40 million users — the largest online audience of any of the major music groups. Additionally, it would give Vivendi access to patented technology for distributing music online, which it says could help power Duet, the music-subscription venture it is developing with Sony.
