VICTORIA, AU (CelebrityAccess News Service) – Destra Corporation Limited, Australia's pioneering Digital Rights Management (DRM) provider, have re-launched their online music service to enable consumers to legally purchase music tracks over the internet for as little as 99c per track. "We have been planning for this day for the last three years," said Destra CEO Domenic Carosa. "Finally it has arrived and we are making music history! The music industry will never be the same again as we launch our new legal system for selling music."
DestraMusic.com
(100% owned by Destra) will be offering online digital music through its online retail partners – Sanity.com.au, HMV.com.au, JBHiFi.com.au and ChaosMusic.com.au, with just under 100,000 tracks from the major record companies such as EMI and Festival Mushroom Records, all in time for the lucrative Christmas sales. DestraMusic will increase their music catalogue with plans to have over 500,000 tracks available for purchase by mid-2004.
EMI COO, Paul Robinson said, "EMI Australia, and its artists, is totally committed to making our extensive music catalogue available in a legal digital format and have been working hard to make this happen. We are excited about working with DestraMusic to develop and evolve this new format, and are confident that the opportunities for consumers to access our music will be enthusiastically received."
Also proclaiming their involvement, Festival Mushroom Records Chairman, Roger Grierson said, "As long time enthusiasts for both Australian music and digital delivery, FMR are excited about teaming up with Destra in their relaunched venture."
Music lovers can go to any of DestraMusic's retail partners and buy all the latest tracks from as little as 99c per track.
The music will be in the Windows Media Player format and will have built in technology for customers to copy the songs onto a CD three times, as well as to a portable media player, but will not allow the tracks to be transferred to pirate websites.
"We have built-in technology that will give the record companies protection from copyright violation, but will allow customers to make copies to CDs for playing in their car or portable CD player," said Domenic. "Over the next few months, we are going to see some very exciting marketing campaigns by various large companies that will incorporate the latest songs downloaded over the Internet. Such as,'…buy six bottles of soft drink and get four hot new songs for free'…the possibilities are endless."
Over the next 90 days, its retail music clients, Sanity, HMV, JB HiFi and ChaosMusic, will allow customers to redeem pre-paid music vouchers on their websites–an Australian first. These vouchers will be available for purchase at over 10,000 retail outlets Australia wide without the need for credit cards. "The under 18 marketplace, the largest consumers of music, will now be able to pre-purchase their online music without the need to use parents' credit cards," Domenic added.
DestraMusic.com has negotiated access to pre-paid voucher vending terminals in over 10,000 retail outlets across Australia. The vouchers vended by these terminals will work in the same way as pre-paid mobile phones. Consumers will go to a selected outlet and pay any dollar amount toward a music voucher and then receive instructions on the docket to retrieve their online music purchase without the need for credit cards. –Jane Cohen and Bob Grossweiner
