British music group EMI has upped the tempo in the fight for online customers, announcing plans to make over 140,000 tracks available via the Internet in the biggest such offensive in Europe to date.
EMI said that Internet users would now also be able to burn music onto CDs, copy tracks to portable MP3 players and purchase singles online before they appear in shops.
Through over 20 online retailers across Europe, music fans will be able to download tracks from more than 3,000 EMI artists including Coldplay, Kylie Minogue and Robbie Williams.
EMI, at the vanguard of somewhat belated efforts by major European labels to harness the potential of the Internet, described the venture as "the biggest European music download initiative by a record company in Europe to date."
Like other record majors, EMI has been hit by sliding sales owing to the economic slowdown, rising piracy and the downloading of music from the Internet.
Until just a few years ago, the big labels were reluctant to release any music over the Internet for fear of feeding piracy.
Even when they starting allowing their music to be distributed legally through a handful of online subscription-based sites, the services were somewhat of a flop.
A major gripe of would-be customers was that sites run by, or linked to, the music giants restricted what users could do with the tracks once they had been downloaded, restricting "burning" to CDs or copying to portable MP3 players.
Instead many online music fans flocked to websites such as Napster, which pioneered the practice of downloading free music over the Internet by allowing users to share files, sparking a surge in music piracy.
Faced with sliding music sales, EMI has now ditched efforts to stamp out online distribution altogether in favour of more liberal licencing arrangements.
"This is a significant initiative because it brings many new features to the online offering," said Tony Wadsworth, chairman and chief executive of EMI Recorded Music UK and Ireland.
"EMI has a vast digital catalogue and is now providing consumers with the music they want in a way that is faster, safer and more adaptable than is currently available on any of the current services - and it's legal," he said in a statement.
AFP