Recordstore.co.uk to offer MP3 and WMA based music service

March 23, 2004

The
online CD music and merchandise retailer Recordstore.co.uk will offer a download
music service to their website later this month. They aim to give artists the opportunity
to sell their music through the website as well as be counted towards the
Official Charts Company's download chart.
Recordstore has signed with DX3; one of Europe's
first companies to offer digital downloads which will store and deliver its
songs. Recordstore expects to sign
with other online distributors at a later stage.

Music will be offered in MP3 format free of DRM, Windows Media 9 format
protected with DRM or both. This is
one of the few stores to offer tracks in the DRM-free MP3. No information has been announced on its
music selection size or the pricing, although this is likely to be 99p along
with DX3's other partners.
GristyMcFisty submitted the
following news via our news
submit :

Recordstore.co.uk, the online music and merchandise retailer, will this month give artists the opportunity to sell their own music downloads, Apple iTunes Music Store-style.

Recordstore has a online
retail outlet and also acts as a UK ecommerce fulfilment arm for Sony,
Warner and Universal, and sundry artists. So when, say, a punter orders a
copy of the latest record from Robbie Williams' web site, the sale is made
and fulfilled by Recordstore.

Its new download service is,
for now, targeted at artists and labels with which it already has a
business relationship. Recordstore customers get to flog a la carte tracks
in DRM-free MP3, DRM-enabled Windows Media 9 format or both. Downloaded
tracks count toward the Official Charts Company's download chart, which
will be merged into the OCC's singles chart later this year.

Recordstore has signed DX3
(aka Digital Domain Distribution) to store and deliver the songs. DX3 was
one of the first European companies to offer digital downloads, signing
EMI in November 2000. The better-known European digital music distributor,
OD2 (aka On Demand Distribution), signed up EMI round the same time.

While many online music stores were against DRM-free codec's when legal
music download services first started, it looks like some are now willing to
give the popular MP3 codec a try despite not being designed to enforce copyright
protection restrictions. Wippit are
the last European company to offer music in MP3 format, take on a well-known independent
record label (EMI) and are doing well with a few hundred thousand
subscribers.

Feel free to discuss and read more
about download based music stores on our Music Downloads, P2P & Legal Issues
Forum.

Source: The Register