HMV Group, the music retailer, is expected to announce this week the introduction of a subscription digital music service.
This service is designed to capitalise on the consumer craze for downloading music off the internet, sources said.
HMV, in which music label EMI holds a 14.5 per cent stake, is expected to announce as soon as tomorrow that it will be the first British music chain to introduce a subscription music service from its website - www.HMV.co.uk.
The anticipated launch date is early September.
The retailer will team with On Demand Distribution (OD2), a British technology firm co-founded by recording artist Peter Gabriel, to make nearly 100,000 tracks from acts such as Elvis Presley and Kylie Minogue available to British users of its website. Under the arrangement, users will pay a monthly subscription of £4.99 sterling ($7.59) entitling them to a certain number of playbacks.
They can also download the music to their computer hard drives or personal listening devices, the sources said.
On Demand Distribution provides music download technology for a variety of Internet firms including internet service provider Freeserve, Italy's Tiscali and Microsoft.
The recording industry has been stung by the success of free online file-swapping services such as Kazaa and Morpheus MusicCity and the growing popularity of consumers copying, or "burning," music onto recordable CDs or their computer hard drives.
- (Reuters)
