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Stars to be downloaded from Web
By CNN's Avril Stephens
LONDON, England (CNN) -- EMI is to make tracks by Robbie Williams, Norah Jones and Kylie Minogue available for download from the Internet after teaming up with a host of Web sites. It is the first time downloaded music will be made available in such vast quantities by any major European record company, following in the wake of companies in the U.S. UK-based EMI Group, which has more than 3,000 EMI artists including Coldplay and Massive Attack on its current books and the Beach Boys, Pink Floyd and Dean Martin on its back catalogue, will make 140,000 tracks available online. An initial 20 Web sites in six European countries will be involved, with more intended. They include Wanadoo, Microsoft, MSN, music channel MTV and retailer HMV. It comes at a time when the record industry is struggling to make sales, especially under the threat from piracy. EMI itself has shed 1,800 jobs and axed 400 high-profile artists including Maria Carey last year in an attempt to revive its ailing business. Hamish Champ, news editor at Music Media magazine, told CNN: "It is clearly a significant step because of the artists they have, and because record companies have yet to make inroads in Europe in this way. "It is also significant on face value in terms of the names of retailers and artists involved. That somebody has got around to it is good. "People are grinding towards a new business model -- a different one. Everybody has been talking about it, it looks now like the industry might get there." The cost will vary from retailer to retailer, but EMI anticipates Internet users will face charges of about £1 ($1.6) to download a single, and "somewhere in the region" of £10 or less for an album. The average retail cost for a single is £4 and up to £15 for an album. Under the deal, consumers will be able to make permanent copies of songs and transfer them to recordable CDs, MP3 players and their computer hard drives. Consumers can also purchase singles online once they hit radio airwaves. Amanda Conroy, spokeswoman for EMI, told CNN the service is an extension of the licenses it has had with 60-plus Internet companies during the past four years. "This is another step in that we are listening and seeing what consumers want and reacting to that demand. "Most record companies are moving in different ways, at different times. But we are moving as fast as we can to what consumers want. "People are interested in getting their music in as many different ways as possible, and as easily as possible." Most existing services are on a subscription or temporary download basis offering only a limited amount of music, mainly from independent labels. Most other online music services are geared for the U.S. market, including the record-label backed services pressplay and MusicNet. Other companies looking to move into similar areas are Vivendi Universal and Apple Computer. Reports earlier this month said the two companies are in talks. The Los Angeles Times, which first reported the story, said Apple was interested in accessing music for its new music service, set to be launched in the coming weeks. The service is reported to allow consumers to buy a song and move it to the popular Apple iPod devices. Threat of piracyEMI's move can also be seen as an attempt to harness the flourishing piracy industry, which accounts for millions of pounds a year to the music industry. More than a third of all CDs and cassettes sold around the globe are illegally produced and sold, the British Phonographic Industry says. Italy is one of the worst affected countries, but the UK saw the value of commercial piracy rise to £27.6 million in 2001, an increase of 30 percent on the year before. The industry has attempted various ploys to limit the damage on their trade, including getting the courts to close the free music-swapping trailblazer Napster in 2001. Madonna, who is bringing out her new album "American Life," has attempted to flood file-sharing networks with fake tracks which contain no music but instead the words: "What the f*** do you think you are doing?" in an attempt to stop tracks being pirated before release. (Brutal review for Madonna CD) Other attempts by fellow artists and record companies have included gluing press advance CDs into a Walkman, referring music critics to secret Web sites to hear a "streamlined" album and even relatives of artists hand-delivering and picking up advance copies. Conroy said the expected prices through EMI would offer "good value" for those who want to buy their CDs legally, but she acknowledged: "Competing with illegal trade is difficult." Where the new service hopes to win is in the quality of sound. One commentator, who did not want to be named, told CNN: "Record companies are not going to stamp out piracy, but what they are doing is to recognize that piracy is around and they must work to reduce the risk of it on their revenues." * Retailers participating in EMI's initial launch phase include HMV, Freeserve, BT Openworld's Dotmusic and Telewest Broadband's Blueyonder ISP service in the UK; Alapage, Fnac and Wanadoo in France; media saturn e-business, Karstadt, Kontor and WOM in Germany; Los40 in Spain; plus MSN's sites in the UK and France; Tiscali's sites in the UK, Netherlands, France, Italy and Germany, and MTV's sites in UK, Netherlands, France, Italy and Germany.
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