Archive notice: This article was originally published on March 5, 2008. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Major label Warner Music http://www.wmg.com has signed an agreement with online portal 7digital http://www.7digital.com and will offer its music there without copy protection. In future, users in Great Britain, Ireland, France and Germany will be able to download albums and individual tracks from the Warner catalogue at 7digital. The files are intended to be compatible with almost every music player, including the popular iPod. “Warner’s offering currently comprises a total of 33,842 products with 362,165 tracks. Across our platform’s entire offering, around 80 percent is now available without Digital Rights Management (DRM),” says Alexander Maiwald, Country Manager Germany at 7digital, in response to an enquiry from pressetext.
The download platform is the first European website to sell Warner’s music without copy protection. Warner had previously entered into a similar partnership with Amazon. However, the online retailer’s service is currently available only in the USA. 7digital, too, is currently still limited to individual countries, but is already planning an expansion. “At present there are no separate sites in Austria and Switzerland, but that is to be implemented this year,” Maiwald reveals. Until then, however, any user from these countries can access the international offering at 7digital.com.
7digital also offers music from EMI Music and is in negotiations with Sony BMG and Universal Music over DRM-free music. The download market is still heavily dominated by Apple’s iTunes. If the planned deals between 7digital and the major labels come about, however, a strong new competitor could certainly emerge. “Our headquarters in England takes a more aggressive approach on this issue than we do in the German-speaking region, given the current market conditions,” Maiwald explains to pressetext. The English-speaking world certainly sees 7digital as a competitor to be taken seriously. And of course the platform also wants to develop into an attractive alternative in Germany in the medium term.
