BMG SAYS WIPPIT GOOD

When a p2p problem comes along, you must whip it. That’s what BMG is saying by pacting with Wipppit, the European digital music store that landed EMI late last year. BMG’s offerings will go online later this week, with the number of songs announced at launch as 10,000. BMG artists will only be available to Wippit's British and Irish customers at launch.

Director of New Media of BMG UK and Ireland Jon Davis said: “2004 looks like it will mark the year where the legitimate market for digital music comes of age. On the Chinese calendar it’s also the Year of the Monkey.”

Said Wippit CEO Paul Myers: "We have a backlog of labels we are in negotiations with. There's only one major label we are not in contact with. What's really going to take [the digital music] market forward is when people buy a car with a digital player installed. That’s really blinging it out.”

Earlier this month, EMI announced that it will expand the number of tracks it has available through Wippit, adding downloads from marquee artists such as Radiohead, Queen, and the Rolling Stones, bringing its total offerings to 175,000 tracks. Wippit has an additional 60,000 songs from more than 200 labels.

Until recently, European downloads from the majors were available for purchasethrough European online retailers who partnered with a single digital media firm, Peter Gabriel and Charles Grimsdale’s OD2.

Wippit offers a 30 pound ($53.80) yearly subscription for unlimited downloads and will soon be offering an a la carte service. What separates Wippit from other services is that it uses a digital-rights-management system to also allow peer-to-peer sharing with other Wippit users. Individual tracks from EMI are for sale at 50 pence and do not require the annual subscription.