ONLINE MUSIC streaming service We7 will officially launch in Ireland on Monday. This is the first time the company has moved outside its British base and marks the start of a wider European expansion during 2011, according to its chief executive.

We7 allows users to listen legally to music for free online with artists gaining royalties each time their work is played. The site is funded by audio adverts played between tracks, while a €5 monthly subscription allows users to listen ad-free. A higher subscription of €10 a month will give users access to the service on their iPhone or Android smartphone.

“The internet obviously changes a lot of industries and music is one area that has gone through massive changes because of it, said Steve Purdham, chief executive and founder investor in We7.

“What’s happening now is there’s basically a massive shift towards music streaming, even downloads are disappearing over time towards this.”

According to Purdham, an artist will get about 0.15 cents when their track is played on the site’s “radio” feature and closer to 0.75 cents if their music is searched for and played by a user.

These low numbers have led a lot of people in the music industry to question the viability of streaming services. However, Purdham said many were beginning to come around to it.

“There is still scepticism there but there’s much more optimism and willingness to try to these things now. There’s always been issues about whether streaming will make up for physical sales, but it’s like trying to compare apples and pears.

“There will be millions, maybe even billions of streams listened to in Ireland over the next year, so if you can monetise that, even at a low level, then you start to see big numbers.”

A number of other streaming sites have been rolled out in other countries in recent years, including Spotify and Pandora.

Eircom recently launched its own service – MusicHub – in Ireland, giving its broadband customers free basic access and subscription-based access for others.

“Ireland is such a great place for music I’m surprised something like this wasn’t done a long time ago,” said Purdham, “but I suppose it’s like waiting for a bus; you wait for so long and then two come at once.”

On the company’s reasons for choosing Ireland as its first overseas foray, Purdham said it offered the right kind of challenge without being over-complicated.

“The language is the same but there are enough differences that it allows us to test our technology properly,” he said. “We have to be able to cater to different currencies and different tastes on a region-by-region basis so Ireland allows us to do that.”

Purdham said initially users in Ireland would not hear a lot of advertisements, partially because it would take time to develop an audience profile to sell to advertisers. The site is aiming for an Irish user-base of 500,000-750,000 in 2011, which compares to its three million British members.