7digital: MySpace Music UK 'a little late to the party'

MySpace Music launched in the UK this week, a full 14 months after the service launched in the US.

This quite extensive delay has prompted Ben Drury, CEO of UK-based music download service 7digital.com, to comment on its late arrival and what it can actually bring to an already burgeoning music streaming scene.

Encouraging for the industry

"There are already a number of companies offering free ad-supported streaming in the UK, including our own partners Spotify and Last.fm," explains Drury.

"Although they are a little late to the party here, it's encouraging for the industry as a whole to have a name like Myspace investing in the music sector. The question now is can the site, which has lost a lot of ground and users over the last year, attract enough users to make this service a profitable business."

Not the best deal

Drury also has some qualms about music purchases on the website. As downloads are done in association with iTunes, the music you can buy offers up some nasty compatibility issues, something that 7digital is completely against.

"The link to download tracks via iTunes does not offer consumers the best deal for purchasing digital music," notes Drury.

"Despite the claims in the press release, music purchased through iTunes is in the AAC format and not MP3. This means purchased downloads are not compatible with all music devices and are of a lower quality than the 320k MP3s we sell at 7digital.com. It is unfortunate that they are not allowing their customers to choose MP3."

UPDATE

MySpace has contacted TechRadar with regards to Ben Drury's comments, and explained that though there was a mix-up with the original press release, regarding iTunes downloads being 'MP3', this has now been rectified and says 'DRM-free'.