Rapper, rocker, actor Ice-T to sell new album via Kazaa:

Users of the Kazaa Media Desktop software (www.kazaa.com) can purchase a downloadable version of Ice-T's new album, Repossession, for $4.99. The album contains 19 tracks by his band, Sex Money & Gunz. Ice-T also plans to sell physical CDs from his own Web site at the same price; conventional retail distribution will follow this summer.

Ice-T said he had signed an Internet distribution deal with Woodland Hills, Calif.-based Altnet, which markets music through Kazaa. Since last year, Altnet has offered some pay-per-download files on Kazaa using Microsoft's digital-rights management software to provide copyright protection. The protected files appear with a gold icon alongside the many unprotected files traded free on Kazaa.

Altnet and Ice-T did not disclose terms of their deal, but Ice-T released this statement: "With technology today, artists don't need to rely on the workings of a traditional label to get their music to consumers, and without the label being in the middle to get a stake, it enables artists like myself to generate more revenue through selling product ourselves." [Washington Post]