Rioport, MTVi to offer fee-based music downloads

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By George A. Chidi Jr.

(IDG) -- The MTVi Group LP and music distribution site Rioport.com Inc. announced Wednesday that they have agreements with all five of the major recording labels to provide secure digital music downloads for consumers on their service, beginning this month.

The service will charge per download, at a range of $0.99 to $1.99 per song and $11.98 to $18.98 for albums, executives said in a conference call.

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The service will be available on Radio MTV.com and VH1atWork Radio, with both digital download and streaming capabilities from BMG Entertainment, EMI, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group, said Jim Long, president and chief executive officer of RioPort.

About 10,000 tracks will be available by the end of this month, he said. That's about 50 percent of the download catalog for the combined companies, but a small percentage of the total back catalog of songs that haven't been released for online distribution.

When listeners hear an available song they like, they can click on a "buy now" button, which guides them through the purchase of tracks or albums quickly and easily.

RioPort will provide the download and digital rights technology.

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