Music Ally

We love the name of Beijing firm R2G’s new music subscription service: it’s called Wawawa and launched last Friday, with more than a million tracks from indie digital distributor IODA. The service costs 20 yuan a month (around $2.93) on an eMusic-style model where subscribers get up to 88 downloads a month, while also being able to stream their purchases over the Web (an important feature in China, where internet cafes are popular). (more…)

AIDS charity (RED) is launching its own music subscription service. It’ll cost $5 a month, for which you”ll get two tracks a week – one from an established star, and one from an emerging artist – as well as a bonus piece of non-music content, and info on (RED)’s latest activities in Africa. The tracks will all be DRM-free MP3s, and the technology is being provided by IDEO and PassAlong Networks. No news on which big artists are taking part, but clearly U2 are candidates, given the band’’s support for the charity in the past.