3V tunes in to online music sales

11-10-2007

by Charlie Taylor

Irish online voucher payment firm 3V has teamed up with digital media company 7digital.com to launch a new music download website.

Customers using 3V's prepaid vouchers will be able to access DRM-free tracks from international stars such as the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd and Radiohead, enabling them to store music files on their computers, mobile phones or a wide range of MP3 players. All files are encoded at 320kbps, which is considered equivalent to, if not better than, CD quality.

The online music store (www.3v.ie) currently offers up to 1 million songs and also has up to 3,000 videos for download.

Customers can store music or video files purchased from the website in their '7digital Locker', an online storage space that users have access to from any computer connected to the internet. Any track purchased can be downloaded up to five times.

"The rise and rise of the music download market has been one of the phenomenon's of the last number of years. We are delighted to be able to offer our customers a dedicated service and most importantly a high quality service through our partnership with 7digital," said 3V's chief executive Kieron Guilfoyle.

3V Vouchers are an alternative payment option allowing those who don't have credit cards to shop online. The vouchers can be purchased by anyone over the age of 16 and can be used wherever Visa is accepted. Customers can buy vouchers from participating Payzone shops nationwide in the same way that they currently purchase credit for their mobile phones.

The vouchers are also designed to help reduce fraud, as they cannot be skimmed, and security details, such as the expiry date, are sent separately to the customers' e-mail or mobile phone.

Last October, 3V, which was founded in Dublin in 2004, announced that it raised EUR20 million to fund an expansion into the UK market. The firm also intends to roll out its products in Germany, Holland and Spain shortly. The company claims to have 100,000 customers in Ireland alone.