Middle East online music store launched by Saudi firm

An online music store for the Middle East, offering more than three million tracks without digital rights restrictions has been launched by a Saudi firm.

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A Saudi-owned company launched today a comprehensive online music store for the Middle East that offers consumers more than 3 million tracks without digital rights restrictions.

Music Master, the main regional distributor of physical music, meaning CDs and DVDs, for labels such as Universal, Sony, EMI and Warner, will sell music from those labels for Dh3 (US$0.81) a track and Dh30 for an album.

The site's goal is to become a leading paid download platform in an already crowded digital market that is rife with piracy. The service is available at www.music-master.com across the GCC, Lebanon and Egypt.

"We wanted to make the process as easy as possible for our consumers, while at the same time offering them the most diverse and comprehensive selection of music online in the Middle East," said Saeed Elajou, the managing director of Music Master.

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"We believe that the website offers incredible value to customers as we believe there is an overwhelming demand for a music download service in the region."

Other contenders in the growing digital space include Getmo Arabia, a joint venture of Arvato Mobile Middle East and Abu Dhabi Media Company (ADMC), as well as UrFilez. ADMC is the owner and publisher of The National.

Music Master recently got the attention of the region's advertisers last month by being the first firm to incorporate interactive "quick response" (QR) bar codes in their adverts. The website's print advertisements displays a QR code that can be scanned using their smartphones for a chance to win a free music download.

dgeorgecosh@thenational.ae