7Digital now 100% MP3
UK digital music retailer 7Digital has this morning announced that it is the first music store in Europe to offer a complete catalogue of MP3 files from all four major labels.
The news comes after the company has secured a DRM free retail deal with Sony BMG and as a result all Sony BMG tracks previously bought by customers in the Windows Media format can be converted (or ‘upgraded’ according to 7Digital) to MP3 format for free.
7Digital is on a roll. In part the company is benefitting from the combined desire of the majors to unseat Apple’s stranglehold on the market; but above all the company has made impressive headway in an incredibly difficult market. It was the first to secure DRM free catalogue in MP3 format from EMI (Apple opted for their own far less compatible AAC format) and 7Digital was the first to secure Warner Music catalogue in MP3. Now with Sony BMG on board the company can legitimately claim to have the largest catalogue of MP3 music (4 million tracks) in the UK. What’s more the company has also announced they will be selling some albums for just GBP £2 including works by Queen, The Magic Numbers, We Are Scientists and Sigur Rós.
7Digital has more announcements to come, including plans for expansion across Europe and into the US.
September 17th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
UPDATE: Apparently 7Digital was not 100% correct in its initial announcement. It’s not the first store in Europe with an all MP3 catalogue from all 4 majors. That honour goes to a French e-tailer (the 7Digital spokesman didn’t know which one it was, though). Instead 7Digital is the first store in the UK to offer content from all four majors.
From the Music Ally team.