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Yahoo's online music service gets European debut
http://www.themauritius.com/news/articles/1142/1/Yahoos-online-music-service-gets-European-debut/Page1.html
Anonymous Blogger
 
By Anonymous Blogger
Published on June 26, 2003
 
Yahoo's online music service gets European debut
 
Europeans will be able to play music videos, artist interviews and streamed music from Yahoo's Launch Music

US Internet media company Yahoo said it is debuting its popular music service called Launch Music in Europe on Wednesday, its first crack at the region's burgeoning online music market.

Launch carries free and subscription-based programming that ranges from music videos and artist interviews to streamed music, which it is bringing to Europe as high-speed broadband Internet usage reaches mass-market levels.

Yahoo does not sell music downloads in North America, but the company said it would consider launching such features in the United States and abroad in the future. Launch's customer base of monthly visitors tops 9 million.

"What we will be doing is building this service to take Launch global, and then we'll look at the opportunities," David Goldberg, vice president and general manager for Launch Music on Yahoo, told Reuters.

Launch will be a primarily advertiser-supported Web site in Europe, as it is in North America.

Goldberg said Launch is likely to team up with British music site Dotmusic, which is owned by BT Group, as part of a newly struck alliance to bring entertainment content to BT OpenWorld broadband subscribers.

Yahoo has been exporting selected features of its North American service to its European operation in an effort to boost advertising and subscription revenue overseas.

Earlier this month, Yahoo launched a free online dating service in Europe, but will change to a monthly subscription service as early as this autumn.

Yahoo has been noticeably quiet in Europe on the music front as the market has been slower to take off here.

The major music labels have been more selective in releasing music to song-download sites, offering their artists' music to a handful of Europe's largest Internet service providers and Web portals including Tiscali and Microsoft's MSN.