HMV ventures into digital waters

The UK music retailer HMV is expected to confirm this week it has reached a deal with the digital music service On Demand Distribution (OD2) to offer almost 100,000 songs over the net.

From September, fans will be able to listen, download or burn a number of tracks for a monthly fee of £4.99.

"This is a very important deal for the industry as a whole as HMV is one of the largest High Street retailers of CDs and stocks quite a broad catalogue." said OD2 Chief Executive, Charles Grimsdale.

Musical choice

Under the arrangement, fans will have access to the largest official catalogue of digital music ever made available in the UK.

Among the material will be the entire Elvis Presley catalogue of 990 tracks, as well as songs by Craig David, Westlife and Dido.

The material will come from leading record labels such as EMI, Warner Music and BMG as well as independent labels like Telstar and V2.

The deal comes at a time when the music industry has been trying to stop the illegal sharing of songs over the net.

'Good value'

One of the ways it has fought back is by launching paid online subscription services, but so far these have been seen as unattractive alternatives to illegal file-sharing networks.

But OD2 is optimistic about the prospects for digital music services.

"It's still early days but the consumer feedback is good," said Charles Grimsdale.

"The cost per track is low, so if you want to listen to music on your computer, it is very good value."

OD2 was set up by Peter Gabriel in 1999 to sell digital music over the internet. Companies such as MSN.co.uk, Freeserve and Tiscali have already signed up to the service.