Napster Hires Former Justice Dept. Official

Moving ahead with plans for a new pay service, Napster Inc. hired a former Justice Department lawyer to oversee legal affairs and signed a deal with Loudeye Technologies Inc. to help it identify songs on its new existing court-challenged service.

The developer of the popular but controversial song-swap service said Jonathan Schwartz will manage legal issues for the new copyright-friendly service it plans to launch this summer as well as its efforts to comply with a court-ordered injunction against its original song-swap service.

The multiyear deal with Loudeye, which translates digital fingerprints of music files that privately held Napster has been generating through a deal with Virginia-based Relatable.

Loudeye’s shares rose 55 cents to close at $1.76 on Nasdaq.