A syndicator for disseminating Web services and other resources from
service and content providers to service consumers and for establishing
and implementing subscription agreements specifying the terms upon which
digital assets are provided to subscribers. A registration database
stores a service description for each of a plurality of different Web
services and other resources. Each stored service description contains an
input processing specification, an output processing specification, and
the specification of the business terms upon which the described service
or resource is offered by its provider to subscribers. A subscription
manager conducts a negotiation with a prospective subscriber and receives
from the subscriber an acceptance of the business terms upon which a
specified Web service or resource is offered to establish a subscription
agreement. Event tracking records information describing the performance
of each service on behalf of each subscriber to perform subscription
accounting functions.