Offhand, I think CDDB may have relied on crowdsourced information early in its life but after it became more professional in mission and outlook—hence the change in name to Gracenote—it began licensing data. Sony’s acquistion of Gracenote probably streamlined the licensing process. Sony has a huge music business.
I don’t believe Gracenote is owned by Sony anymore. I don’t follow it closely but my recollection is Sony sold it to another big company who later sold it to a private equity firm (the current owner).
ETA: in a related vein, I think the media cataloging software Delicious Library (they’re top of mind at the moment because they were mentioned in another thread a couple of days ago) relied on Amazon’s product catalog for images and track listing.