Universal Music may be paving another path around iTunes.

The company is working with other major record labels, mobile device manufacturers, and wireless providers to give deliver music in a new way, according to a report on BusinessWeek.com. The move is the latest in a series of developments by the recording industry to shore up profits and regain control they have lost as consumers transition to downloading music -- both through iTunes and piracy.

If successful, Universal and the other music companies would weaken the dominant distributor, iTunes, and make MP3 players other than the iPhone more appealing.

Universal CEO Doug Morris is reportedly hammering out a way to provide music from Universal, Sony, and possibly Warner, while incorporating the cost into cell phone charges, according to the report. So, instead of paying per song, customers would pay a little extra for their phones or their wireless service and obtain most, or all, of the labels' music as part of a package deal. The service would be called Total Music, BusinessWeek.com reported.

The news comes just a few months after Universal announced that it would sell some of its songs through Amazon.com, Best Buy, Google, Rhapsody, and Wal-Mart. Through that arrangement and others, Universal, Sony, and Warner have already begun selling music free of digital rights management technology on a limited basis.

Recording industry representatives say that piracy costs the U.S. economy $12.5 billion a year. The industry is scrambling to cope with the loss through a slew of lawsuits as well as new distribution models.