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Universal Music Group launches download-only label

23 November 2004 8:58 by James "Dela" Delahunty

The Universal Music Group has launched a new music label aimed at distributing music solely online through legal paid downloads. The label, UMe Digital, will sell everything from individual tracks to full albums completely over the Internet. "Last year the music industry sold fewer than 50,000,000 downloads; this year the industry will exceed 100,000,000. I think every label will have a download-only imprint at some point." said Bruce Resnikoff, the president of UMe. This comes as no surprise as major labels now see that customers prefer the convenience of music on demand that the Internet can offer.

A track sold over the Internet, can move from one side of the world to the other in a matter of seconds with today's Internet connections and digital compressions, unlike music CDs which can take weeks to distribute to stores worldwide, which leaves them open to early piracy that the recording industry is blaming for millions of dollars in lost revenue. Artists will not be forced to sell all their music online, they may sell a CD with another Universal label, and sell something different using the UMe label. With this new label, an artist who was just signed could be selling digital music downloads in a matter of a few weeks. The downloads will be available from all the usual suspects of the legal net music stores including iTunes, Napster, MSN Music, Sony Connect, Rhapsody and MusicMatch.

Source:
DMeurope

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