7Digital readies push into Europe and US

 

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By Simon Aughton

Posted on 28 Jan 2008 at 14:13

7Digital has secured £4.25 million from a venture capital firm to finance its expansion into Europe and the US.

The music downloads service currently sells a mixture of WMA files with DRM and unrestricted MP3s, but believes it can benefit from the trend away from DRM.

"The last year has seen rapid growth in the digital music market and this year we expect it to grow even faster with the move toward the open MP3 format," says 7Digital founder Ben Drury.

"7digital has enjoyed incredible growth in the UK and Europe and with this new investment we are well-placed to expand overseas and into new areas."

7Digital will be joined in the European market by Amazon, which has announced that it will expand its MP3 store beyond the US this year, as well as established market leader, iTunes.

One other potential competitor could be Qtrax, which is claiming to have deals in place with all the major music labels, though they have so far disputed the claims.