Audio Video News

Critics of the music industry often say we wish the major labels would quit bellyaching, forget the lawsuits, and just offer a better legal-download product. That's the best way to fight illegal downloads, and that's what the Universal Music Group is doing with its new Lost Tunes download service.

With the help of 7digital, a digital media delivery outfit, Lost Tunes launched in the United Kingdom with 134 albums from the Universal catalogue. The material is said to be exclusive (though one critic has pointed out that some of it is not). Another 500 titles will become available in the next six months, drawing from Universal-owned labels such as Verve, A&M, Motown, and Stax. Files will be MP3 at 320kbps with no DRM. Pricing is a little, well, pricey at 99 pence per track (about $1.96) and £5.99 for albums (about $11.85).

I paid the site a visit. At first glance, it looked very cool. Just the sight of all those LP spines was enough to make a music lover's heart beat faster. I clicked on "rock" and found a lead item on the Canterbury scene which sprouted Soft Machine, Caravan, Hatfield and the North, and the featured item, the Wilde Flowers. The "most played" items that day were the Tubes, If, Eddy & the Hot Rods, the Moody Blues, and the Sir Douglas Quintet.

All the major labels should do this. Their back catalogues include much out-of-print material and other buried treasure, and fans need a legitimate way to get our hands on this stuff without resorting to illegal torrenting. Kudos to Universal.

See Billboard and a slightly more critical writeup in The Telegraph.