Kiwi music fans first full online download store

News release
June 28, 2006

Kiwi music fans get first full-catalogue online download store

The news is all good for New Zealand music fans as local online music store digiRAMA.co.nz announces a series of landmark deals.

digiRAMA has securing ground-breaking agreements with all four major record companies and a leading local radio network.

The deals mean New Zealand music fans can now legally download from a local site an enormous range of tracks and albums from the star-studded EMI, Universal, Sony BMG and Warner Music catalogues, making digiRAMA New Zealand’s first and only full-catalogue online music download website.

For the first time, Kiwi music lovers can digitally purchase multi-label compilations such as the hugely popular Now That’s What I Call Music! series, which has sold over more than 1 million copies in New Zealand. Now! 21 launches next week – and fans can buy the entire album via digiRAMA. A broad range of local and international music content from New Zealand’s independent labels is also available.

In another New Zealand online first from digiRAMA, consumers can also access sought-after and exclusive content, including music videos that can be downloaded and stored on personal computers. Fans can watch videos from the likes of Eminem, U2, Sugababes, Sandi Thom, Savage and Dei Hamo anytime they like on their PC, portable player or TV, via devices like the Xbox 360.

And in a landmark deal with The Radio Network, listeners enjoying a track on hit radio stations ZM, Classic Hits, Viva, Hauraki, Flava or Coast will now be able to go directly to www.digiRAMA.co.nz and download it. The digiRAMA site will display a “now playing” feature that links directly to the stations’ playlists, meaning you can purchase the song currently on air – or any of the last 10 tracks played.

The new digiRAMA “radio” tab also offers live streams of all of the TRN stations.

Kiwi brothers Shaun and Garth Davis identified the potential demand for legal digital music downloading when they founded digiRAMA in November 2004. Shaun Davis says digiRAMA has a bigger catalogue than any physical store.

“Kiwi music fans have been crying out for a full-catalogue online service and we have had terrific feedback from music-loving New Zealanders,” he says.

“digiRAMA.co.nz is extremely cost-effective – you can try before you buy and purchase only the tracks you want – and it’s also incredibly easy to use. Plus we’re open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Getting your hands on New Zealand’s only full-catalogue range of online music is now child’s play.”

Downloads at www.digirama.co.nz cost from $1.69 for individual songs; $3.49 for videos and from $16.99 for albums.

Recording Industries Association of New Zealand president and Universal Music MD Adam Holt says digiRAMA is considered one of the best download sites in the world, and the music industry welcomes the full-catalogue development.

“RIANZ and all the companies involved are thrilled digiRAMA is the first online store to secure content deals with all the major record companies,” he says.

“Universal Music’s technical staff in London, who test online music services from around the world, rate the digiRAMA service extremely highly and consider it one of the best sites they have tested on both a technological and consumer level. The techniques digiRAMA uses are incredibly consumer-friendly and diverse enough to suit everyone’s needs.

Holt adds, “Importantly for the New Zealand recording industry, digiRAMA promotes legitimate downloading by offering fans a safe and simple way to legally download their favourite music and videos.”

“It’s also nice to see it’s a couple of enterprising New Zealand lads who have been able to stitch it all together – a great example of Kiwi ingenuity.”

ENDS

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