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High-street store HMV has signaled its intent in the digital music space by offering the Top 40 singles for 40p each on its new online music store
The prices on the HMV Digital store will be music to the ears of pop lovers who will be hoping the aggressive stance - some full albums will be on offer for £4.99 as well - sparks a bidding war with Apple.
HMV's move comes as no surprise as the firm bought a 50 per cent stake in 7digital last year for £7.7m. The music retailer now can give users access to over 10 million songs that can be synced with Windows and Mac media players, as well as to iPods and other MP3 devices.
"Our partners at 7digital have built for us a significantly improved new site that looks great and has never been easier to use," said Sarah Hughes, HMV's head of Online and Digital.
"With so many innovative and wonderful features, it offers a truly intuitive and engaging customer experience that I very much hope will lead to HMV becoming a bigger player in the burgeoning digital market."
The Top 40 may not hold much cultural sway any more but it still marks a hefty chunk of downloads each week. As HMV is hoping to entice music lovers to its new digital store, with sales going through 7digital, Apple will certainly take note.
Despite the new competition, though, HMV's Help section underlines the US firm's dominance, making as it does frequent reference to iPods and iTunes, in an effort to reassure users that any downloads will work with Apple's products.
Looking at the current make-up of the Top 40, though, which includes songs from the likes of JLS and Jedward, even for 40p a pop (hit), it seems like money for nothing.
26 Jul 2010
