Don’t rip it off – Ripit instead

November 28, 2006

Media Release

Don’t rip it off – Ripit instead

Young New Zealanders are being urged to do the right thing by the country’s musicians and not to download music illegally.

The call comes with the launch in Auckland tonight of the Ripit music download site – the first site that makes it easy for younger people to legally download music by using vouchers instead of credit cards.

Ripit development manager Paul Fuimaono says that the need to have a credit card or credit rating is a major barrier to younger people buying digital music legally.

“There are many people who don’t use credit cards for one reason or another – including the fact that they’re too young,” he said.

“Our voucher system means that they don’t need to. They simply buy a voucher, enter their pin number into the site, and download.”

Ripit is owned by Dick Smith Electronics, which is already stocking vouchers at its 65 stores across the country and is negotiating to sell them through other retailers. Prices are some of the cheapest on the market, at 99 cents for promotional tracks, $1.89 for a single, $3.99 for a music video and $16.90 for an album.

The system is backed by all four major record companies and their subsidiaries. Around 500,000 songs and albums are already on the site, and more are being loaded daily, including a huge catalogue of New Zealand artists.

Mr Fuimaono said that many New Zealanders, especially in the younger demographic, believed that it was wrong to download New Zealand music illegally.

“Our research shows that young people in particular are concerned about the impact that illegal downloads of music is having on the incomes of struggling New Zealand musicians,” he said.

“That’s why we believe that they will listen when we say ‘Don’t Ripit Off’ – especially when there’s an easy alternative.”

Tonight’s launch at Auckland’s Studio Bar features established and up-and-coming New Zealand artists, including rapper Mareko from Decepticonz, and young singer Sonja Thomsen accompanied by Ernie Semu.

Ends

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