Virgin enters online music market
27 September 2004
Music retailer Virgin has launched an online music store.
Entrepreneur Richard Branson's firm intends to use its high street megastores to promote the new Virgin Digital online service.
The new internet music store, unveiled in the US, offers tracks for 99 cents (55p) and provides a variety of subscription options.
Virgin joins an increasingly crowded market, which now includes services and download stores from Apple Computer Microsoft, RealNetworks, Yahoo and Roxio.
"We don't see this as crowded," Zack Zalon, president of Virgin Digital, told Reuters. "It's not saturated at all and there is tremendous growth potential."
"We don't care about winning next week or next month. We plan to be a significant player in five years," he added.
Featuring more than 1 million tracks, the Virgin download store provides licenses for playing, burning to CDs and downloading to about 50 portable music devices. The company plans to launch the service outside of the United States, but no dates have yet been announced.
Jupiter Research predicts that the online music market in the US will grow from around $100 million in 2003 to $1.7 billion in 2009.
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