iTunes launch opens digital frontier for NZ music

December 6, 2006

iTunes launch opens digital frontier for NZ music

The launch of a New Zealand iTunes store has significant benefits for local artists and consumers, believed online digital music distributor Jiggy.co.nz today.

Jiggy.co.nz director Dave Gibbons said the availability of iTunes opened up opportunities for local musicians to market their music worldwide, and offered speed and ease for consumers to purchase music online.

Jiggy.co.nz is a key supplier of New Zealand content to iTunes worldwide through its exclusive rights to The Orchard, the world’s largest independent digital music distributor.

“The opening of iTunes will give local music a huge lift,” said Mr Gibbons.

“iTunes offers more potential for underground and emerging artists to get noticed on the worldwide market. Switched-on artists can market their music to the world from their bedrooms.

“iTunes and Jiggy are parts of a digital revolution in music because artists can choose to remain independent and work through independent managers, publicists and marketers, while distributing the product themselves,” he said.

“There are obvious benefits for consumers. A much wider variety of music will be more accessible for consumers, and speed of purchase will increase

“Consumers can ‘hear it; buy it’. If they hear a song on the radio they can search for it online and download it in the time it takes to enter their credit card details.

“We expect iTunes to compliment existing local digital music distributors. For example, not everyone has credit cards, and Jiggy.co.nz offers a mobile phone txt-based service as a form of payment,” he said.

Jiggy also announced that its call for 40 local albums to be included to initial upload to iTunes has been successful, with some remaining places available. This Monday, Jiggy.co.nz will be making a significant announcement about worldwide multimedia distribution.

ENDS

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