UK: Telegraph to rival iTunes?

Posted by John Burke on October 11, 2006 at 12:57 PM

The Daily Telegraph has announced that it is launching a branded online music download store along the lines of Apple's incredibly popular iTunes. The store, dubbed Perfect Playlist, is one aspect of a major digital revamping at London's last broadsheet and shows the trend for newspapers to branch out into other markets to extend revenue streams.

The store will provide music from major as well as independent labels and includes a feature that lists the top 10 most popular songs from a variety of musical styles.

Said online editorial director for the Telegraph Group, Edward Roussel, "Telegraph.co.uk is rapidly turning into a destination where you not only read about news and culture but experience it directly with high quality audio, video and multimedia picture galleries. The Telegraph music store is an important step in this direction."

It remains to be seen whether such branded ventures help add readership instead of merely supplementing revenue lost during the transition from print to online.

Source: Media Bulletin