Sony To Sell Downloads In Singapore

Sony has become the first major label to sell music on the Internet in Asia outside of Japan, with a Singapore-based portal called PlanetMG.com.

PlanetMG currently offers 120 tracks by 100 artists, with individual songs available for download at between $1 and $2.49. Asian acts account for roughly half of the songs available on PlanetMG. The site is operated by a division of Sony Marketing Asia-Pacific (SMAP), which markets Sony hardware in the Asia-Pacific region.

Since its launch last month, the site has racked up a total of 900,000 hits, according to Paul Tan, PlanetMG's regional manager of business development. Tan, who reports to SMAP managing director Masaaki Terada, says download figures are not yet available.

Despite its Sony affiliation and the fact that Sony is so far the only major label providing tracks for the site, Tan describes PlanetMG as a "neutral platform." He says PlanetMG is now negotiating with another major label to provide content for the site. Indie labels with songs available for download on PlanetMG include WOMAD, Malaysia's Positive Tone, Australia's Big Note Records, and Pony Canyon Malaysia.

Acts with songs on PlanetMG include Madison Avenue, Mary Mary, Oasis, and Pearl Jam. There are also Mandarin selections from Leon Lai, Jeff Chang, and Cass Phang, as well as tracks from Too Phat (Malaysia), GinGer and Jenn (both from Australia), and This Chameleon (Japan).

"We spent a lot of effort in sourcing for content, and we are proud [to have] the indies who have signed with us," Tan says. "For instance, this is the first time outside Europe that the WOMAD label is available online.

"One reason why we have not offered a huge number of tracks is because we believe in quality control, and we also want to give the artists the best possible promotion," Tan adds.

He stresses that many of the songs on PlanetMG cannot be found on other Internet music sites in Asia and that some unsigned indie acts have signed exclusive deals with the site.

PlanetMG uses an advanced version of Sony's ATRAC3 compression technology, which allows files to be played back with the Windows Media Player.

Payment is by credit card, with security provided by TrustMarque, while Reciprocal handles digital rights management.

The site also features entertainment news, previews and clips of yet-to-be-released movies and music videos, and a range of merchandise available through the PlanetMG online shop.

Sony Music Asia president Richard Denekamp says, "We are very positive about selling music on the Web, and while we are concentrating on songs at the moment, there are possibilities in the future for album downloads or even for additional information provided digitally, such as lyrics or pictures. Singapore is the right place for this initiative. They offer a broadband infrastructure and a lot of additional support. We hope that all major content providers will join PlanetMG."

Denekamp says pricing was a key concern in designing PlanetMG. "So far we have set our pricing at levels comparable to those [offered online by Sony] in the U.S.," he says, admitting that such pricing levels may create problems for Asian consumers, who are used to paying less for music on a per-unit basis.

Currently PlanetMG's music files are available solely to Singapore residents, but in mid-October the site will be launched in the rest of Asia, excluding Japan, where Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) has been operating its bitmusic.com download site since last December.