Europe : Hutchison 3G Austria officially launched their dual delivery store (www.drei.at/music) featuring both a ‘download to own’ and subscription platform thereby enabling customers to choose the mode of purchase that best suits their needs.

The ‘download-to-own’ store features over 3.3 million audio tracks in MP3 and WMA and over 60,000 video tracks in WMV, all of which can be delivered simultaneously to a mobile and online account. Additionally, realtones are scheduled to be added shortly making it the most complete music offering available on the market. Content is available from Universal, SonyBMG, EMI and many indie labels with others to be added shortly. Audio tracks are available between €0.99 and €1.29 and video tracks are €1.99.

The subscription service, entitled MoreMusic, is available in two different models; weekly and monthly. The weekly model is based on a recurring fee of €2.99 and the user is able to unsubscribe at any time. The monthly subscription model entails a monthly fee of €10 and the user is able to cancel with 8 weeks advance notice. Currently content is available from Universal Music and key indies with other majors expected to join shortly.

Across the platforms, content is provided in the highest standard and no additional software is needed to access the service.

Fabian Seydewitz, Head of Products & Services at Hutchison 3G Austria, said: “The launch of the 3MusicStore and the subscription service ‘MoreMusic’ will be changing the way people experience music on the move and on their PC in Austria. Consuming music on the mobile will be so straight forward and such good value that it is as easy as making a phone call. There is no catch and it is legal.”

“We are very pleased to be working with 3 in Austria who is clearly a frontrunner in over-the-air multimedia services. 3 understands that ‘choice’ is the key in providing a successful download service”, said Frank Taubert, CEO, 24-7 Entertainment. “It is no longer sufficient to just provide download-to-own options for mobile, one needs to delve even further and expand the consumer’s choices as 3 has done by also offering a tiered pricing subscription model”.

About 24-7 Entertainment

24-7 Entertainment with offices in the UK, Germany, Spain and Denmark, is the leading B2B technology provider specializing in online and mobile distribution of digital entertainment. Via its comprehensive system, the company has fulfilled tens of millions of commercial and promotional downloads for major retailers, telcos, software and hardware manufacturers, record labels and media companies worldwide. With license agreements in place with over 12.000 labels including all major record companies, 24-7 Entertainment is a turnkey, one-stop-shop for the seamless, distribution of digital media.