Universal Music in the UK and Ireland has announced a joint venture with Sky to launch an MP3 music store and a hybrid subscription & MP3 download service. It's the first major licence deal by Universal for MP3s; and is another huge vote of confidence in the concept of download to own subscription services. Although fuller details are still sketchy, here's what we do know: The new service is a standalone company which is not part of Sky's satellite TV business or its broadband ISP business. It's a joint venture between Universal and Sky with Sky the majority shareholder. Other labels can also take similar equity stakes.It will offer consumers in the UK and Ireland access to an MP3 download store and a new kind of subscription model which will offer streamed music on demand for a monthly fee bundled with various packages which will provide different numbers of downloads each month. All downloads, whether through the store or the subscription service will be MP3 and will therefore work on all devices including iPods and phones. The service won't be bundled with Sky's ISP package. Instead it will be marketed as a totally standalone new music offering.We don't know when [...]
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