HMV launches own digital music service
- Added:
- Aug 31, 2005
Launching on Monday, 9 September, HMV Digital has been developed in partnership with business and technology solutions provider Conchango.T
The service will offer a customised Jukebox, which can be bought as a CD-ROM or downloaded from the HMV website.
This will guide customers through browsing and buying music, as well as managing their library online.
HMV Digital will provide customers with a choice of paid-for downloads or a monthly subscription service.
HMV is aiming to distinguish itself from its competitiors by offering a flexible pricing structure. Customers will pay a premium price for a track from a well-known artist, but releases by newer bands will be cheaper.
The service is compatible with Windows Media Player, but will not play on iPods.
The retailer, which is investing £10m in the service, will also create HMV Digital sections across its 200 stores in the UK.
Meanwhile high street rival Virgin is set to launch its own digital music service this Friday, powered by technology from MusicNet.
Working with the firm’s entertainment retail business Virgin Megastores, the service offers a ‘pay as you go’ service or monthly subscription, which allows unlimited downloads and access to a catalogue of more than one million tracks covering 19 different genres.
Features include internet radio, rip and burn software, music manager software and track sampling, along with an ‘ask the expert’ service.
The UK digital download market is now estimated to generate some £500,000 per week, and it is expected to grow to a £40 million industry by the end of 2005
Digital downloads currently account for 2% of all UK music sales in the first half of 2005.