HMV Goes Digital

In another sign of the ever changing times, DVD and music retailer HMV is entering the digital realm.  Check it out:

Canada’s largest bricks and mortar music retailer, hmv Canada is thrilled to be bringing their extensive knowledge and passion for music into a new and exciting digital realm!  With a continued focus on expanding their business and reinventing their brand, hmv is launching their new Canadian digital store, hmvdigital.ca. 

hmvdigital.ca will launch in ‘beta’ mode on November 4, 2009 when hmv invites its consumers to test the site, and provide hmv with feedback. The site will use an advanced technology platform to allow music lovers to find and enjoy the music they love, in digital form. 

hmvdigital.ca will offer a number of unique features including: 

·     Millions of tracks, ALL available, in the MP3 format, free of DRM (digital rights management), making hmvdigital.ca the only major Canadian site that is 100% MP3

·     Unique “my downloads” section that centrally stores music purchased from hmvdigital.ca, thereby allowing consumers (who may not be at home, or who may have lost their digital music) to readily

access their previously purchased hmvdigital.ca music

·     User friendly music search capability

·     An online music preview player that automatically plays back 30+ second clips of any / all tracks and albums that have been selected while browsing. This browsed music continues playing as background music while customers shop the store

·     Compatible with all digital music players

·     The site will be available in both French and English

·     The site will accept Visa, MasterCard, Amex & PayPal 

“We know that our loyal hmv customers love music in all forms, and have a much higher predisposition to purchase music in both physical and digital form,” says Humphrey Kadaner, President of hmv Canada Inc. “It has always been our intention to offer our customers a digital music alternative, in addition to our current physical CD offer. However, we only wanted to do so when we were confident that we had a very high quality, and very credible hmv digital music store. We believe we now have that to offer our customers, and are very much looking forward to getting their feedback.” 

“While we are excited about the beta launch of hmvdigital,ca, this is just a start as we’re already working on new features and enhancements in support of the official launch in the new year” adds Mr. Kadaner. 

As part of their launch plans, hmv will provide visitors to the site a special introductory offer that will allow them up to ten free tracks when they make their initial purchase at hmvdigital.ca. The buyer would receive the equivalent of the purchased tracks in free tracks (to maximum of ten) in the form of pin code emailed to their registered address.  Complete details are listed at hmvdigital.ca for the consumer. 

Comments (1)

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Alex Killby

November 09, 2009

Votes: -1

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Going backwards...

I am 19 years old. This means that I've grown up with the Internet, and you'd think that I'd embrace the digital distribution of music. In theory, this seems ideal to me. Instant access to so much music, exposure to groups you've never heard of from half way across the world sometimes. As I grow closer to the music I listen to, however, I find that I am leaning AWAY from digital music. I am not discounting the benefits of having a digital music world. I love that I can hear new artists so easily - artists that I might not have ever listened to previously. What I find now though, is that once I become attached to an artist, that I prefer to own a physical copy of their music, and recently I prefer a vinyl record. There's something about having the music in your hands, and something about vinyl that give it a more personal feel. With Vinyl, I am far more likely to listen to other tracks by the artist than I am with a digital library. It's so easy on a computer to just skip through tracks, and with vinyl I will hear and appreciate tracks I might not have had the chance to listen to had I passed judgement based on a 20-second sample. I am a firm believer in giving due compensation to the artists that produce these records. So I see complete purpose to the digital music world, but I think if you really appreciate the artist, you'll want that physical disc. Unfortunately for HMV, that doesn't mean going into their store seeing as they will only have the occasional special vinyl item, but instead means I'm going to my local independent record shop which specializes in Vinyl of all sorts. You get much better customer service from staff that are so into the music they're selling you. So, in summary of all my mixed feelings on the subject - I think HMV is entering the business they should be in - digital music distribution, cause god knows if I wanted to visit a store and speak to someone about my physical purchases, I'd rather not have some high school student that knows crap all about what I'm buying. 'nuff said.

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