Oxfam hopes to make big noise in download market

Latest in very long line to enter online song-shop fray

NEWS With the long-awaited launch of Napster in the UK not even a week old and iTunes' promised European arrival getting closer, it seems everyone wants a slice of the music downloads market these days. The latest entrant into the pay-per-song fray, however, is raising a few eyebrows.

Charity Oxfam has announced the launch of its own song-shop offering – bignoisemusic.com - on 26 May. Like other download sites, users will be able to stream or download a track – prices for downloads start at 75p. The site will offer music fans 300,000 tracks from 12,000 artists.

Unlike other sites, though, profits will be used to help projects in the UK and the third world.

While the idea of a site that gives music lovers the opportunity to do a bit of a good and avail themselves of the odd exclusive track might give surfers the additional push to check out Oxfam's shop, the charity will be entering an already overcrowded market.

With big names like Coke, Virgin and Napster having launched their own download sites and others like Microsoft and Dell gearing up to have a pop, Oxfam, unfortunately, may yet have a bit of a struggle to woo the downloading punters.

Comments

There is 1 comment. Join the discussion

  1. 1. Mark

    Big Noise will only be supporting IE and Windows Media. They have asked that users of other software please go away.

    • 26 May 2004 12:44
    • Add comment

Post your comment

In order to post a comment you need to be registered and logged in.

You can also log in with Facebook. Log in or create your silicon.com account below

  • Login

Will not be displayed with your comment

By signing up for this service, you indicate that you agree to our Terms and Conditions and have read and understood our Privacy Policy.

Questions about membership? Find the answers in the Membership FAQ

Get silicon.com's daily newsletter

  • Register on silicon.com

    Enter your email to register

Keep in touch with silicon.com

silicon.com newsletters