Consumers in the Republic will be able to download digital music from a large range of artists from next month, through an online subscription service provided by high-street retailer HMV.
The service, which is the first to be established by a major retailer in the Republic or Britain, should help HMV grow its sales here - which new figures show were £69 million (€88 million) in the year to April 2001.
From next month, HMV customers will be able to sign up for a subscription service offering 100,000 tracks from artists such as Elvis Presley, Genesis, Kylie Minogue and Dido.
A subscription will cost users £4.99 (€7.80) per month for the right to download up to 50 tracks per month.
Alternatively users can choose to listen to up to 500 tracks using a music streaming function.
The new service is an attempt by HMV to stem the flow of consumers choosing to download music files from a host of websites set up to mirror the now-defunct file-swapping site Napster.
These sites are undermining retailers' revenues and have been blamed for a 7 per cent decrease in CD sales in the US in the first half of 2002.
But it will also offer HMV a further opportunity to increase its presence in the Republic, where it has seven stores and generates significant revenues for the group.
Financial accounts filed this month show HMV Ireland more than doubled turnover to £69.2 million in the year to April 2001, up from £31.3 million for the previous year.
Operating profit increased to £4.7 million during the same period, up from £3 million in 2000.
HMV employed almost 200 staff in the Republic during this period, the results show.
The new Web service is the result of a partnership deal between HMV and online music distribution company ON Demand Distribution.
HMV will offer tracks from bands signed to a number of labels including EMI, Warner Music and BMG.
Mr Stuart Rowe, HMV e-commerce director, said it was evident that a growing number of customers were ready for digital music.
However, record stores would remain core to the way people chose to buy their music.
HMV joins a number of high-profile websites and portals including MSN.co.uk, Freeserve and Tiscali, which already use the On Demand Distribution service.
The new service will be available from HMV's existing website, www.HMV.co.uk.
