Virgin Megastores Hellas Launches Greek Digital Music Service Powered by Loudeye
Athens, Greece and Seattle (ots/PRNewswire)
- Greek Language Service Provides Low Cost, Great Choice Digital Music Experience
Virgin Megastores Hellas and Loudeye Corp. (Nasdaq: LOUD), a worldwide leader in business-to-business digital media solutions, today announced the launch of a Virgin Greece digital music service. The service, powered by Loudeye's OD2 services, is designed to give Greek consumers an affordable digital music package with a wide array of content from a Greek language site.
The service, available at www.virginmegadownloads.gr, operates on a 'pay-as-you-go' model, meaning music buyers only pay for what they want. The service will also be supported by a Pre-Paid Card system, which will allow consumers to purchase music, not just by credit card, but with a card paid for in advance. These cards will be available in amounts of 5, 15, or 30 Euros, initially from Virgin Megastores Hellas and later from other retail outlets in Greece.
Richard Branson, Chairman of the Virgin Group, said: "Our new service in Greece will be instrumental in giving the consumer what they want, when they want and at an affordable price package. Virgin has been a pioneer in the music industry since our earliest days, and our low-cost Greek digital music service is in the same tradition. We want to make it simple and low cost for music fans to sample and buy music digitally."
"Music fans are driving the demand for digital music and now the technology is there, the industry is behind it and -- with the introduction of our service -- prices are affordable for all," Branson continued.
Kostas Piladakis, Chairman of Vivere Entertainment and the Virgin Megastores in Greece, continued, "We've created a service that is easy, low cost and more importantly assists in the drive against piracy in Greece. The site will offer a broad catalogue and aim to support the Greek record industry in its efforts to provide a digitalized music service to the Greek consumers."
The launch of Virgin Hellas' music service represents the first store in Greece powered by Loudeye's OD2 services.
Philip Shepherd, Loudeye's head of strategic partnerships -- EMEA said, "Virgin Hellas has launched a strong digital music offering that will appeal to a wide range of music fans. Its decision to offer an alternative to the subscription model shows that digital music can be packaged in a number of different ways to suit consumer needs and buying patterns, and we are delighted to be involved with this exciting development into this new market."
About Vivere Entertainment S.A. and Virgin Megastores
Vivere Entertainment owns the license rights to represent Virgin Megastores in Greece, as well as www.virginmega.gr and operates 15 stores across Greece. Its aim is to seek new and innovative ways for entertainment products and services within the B2B and B2C Greek market.
About Loudeye Corp.
Loudeye is a worldwide leader in business-to-business digital media solutions and the outsourcing provider of choice for companies looking to maximize the return on their digital media investment. Loudeye combines innovative products and services with the world's largest digital music archive, a broad catalog of licensed digital music and the industry's leading digital media infrastructure enabling partners to rapidly and cost effectively launch complete, customized digital media stores and services. For more information, visit www.loudeye.com.
Forward Looking Statements
This release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on current estimates and actual results may differ materially due to risks, including the possibility of adverse changes in the market for distribution of digital audio and video that Loudeye serves; adaptation to new international markets; adverse or uncertain legal developments with respect to copyrights surrounding the creation and distribution of digital content; pricing pressures and other activities by competitors; the failure of Loudeye's hosting infrastructure; the complexity of Loudeye's services and delivery networks; any problems or failures in the structure, complexities or redundancies of Loudeye's network infrastructure; failures in third party telecommunication and network providers to provide required transmission capacity; lack of market acceptance for Loudeye's products and services; the possible delay in the adoption of digital media or related applications on the web in general; and other risks set forth in Loudeye's most recent Form 10-Q, Form 10-K and other SEC filings which are available through EDGAR at www.sec.gov. Loudeye assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements.
Web site: http://www.loudeye.com http://www.virginmegadownloads.gr
Contact:
Maria Kalkakou, Marketing and PR Manager of Vivere Entertainment S.A.
(Virgin Megastores), +30210 6836295, or
mkalakakou@virginmegastores.gr; or media, in Europe, Chris Owen of
Trimedia Communications UK, +44-0-207-471-6851, or +44
-0-7970-933-680, or chris.owen@trimediauk.com, or in the U.S., Karen
DeMarco of mPRm Public Relations, +1-323-933-3399, or
kdemarco@mprm.com, both for Loudeye Corp.; or investors, Michael
Dougherty, +1-206-832-4000, or ir@loudeye.com