7 Digital Media Powers Westlife and Blazin Squad to the Top of the First Official UK Download Chart

7 Digital Media, one of the UKs leading independent digital media companies, announces that its technology powered Westlife to number one on the new Official UK Download Chart, released for the first time ever.

UK (PRWEB) September 6, 2004 -- 7 Digital Media, one of the UKs leading independent digital media companies, today announced that its technology powered Westlife to number one on the new Official UK Download Chart, released for the first time ever today.

The company partnered with BMG Records to make Westlifes Flying Without Wings (Live) the first ever Official UK Download Chart number one, and with Atlantic Records for the number two placing of the exclusive track Blazin Day by Blazin Squad.

The Official Download Chart counts the most popular tracks downloaded from legal UK services - including services from 7 Digital Media, iTunes and Napster. The first weekly download top 20 was revealed on September 1st on BBC Radio 1 by presenter Scott Mills during his drivetime show at 1800 BST.

7 Digital Media designed and built a proprietary download engine, to enable both BMG Records and Atlantic Records to manage single promotions and billing via SMS and credit/debit card for both the chart toppers. To create a secure environment for both downloads Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology was also provided as part of the overall solution.

Although the Westlife track was also featured on other download services, 90% of sales counting toward the number one position on the Official Download Chart can be directly attributed to sales through 7 Digital Media. Using 7 Digital Medias technology, BMG was able to market the download direct to the fanbase and partners.

100 percent of the sales of the exclusive Blazin Squad download which charted at number two were enabled by 7 Digital Media, and this download was uniquely offered in Windows Media (WMA) format and iPod/Mac compatible (AAC) format. Sales contributions by 7 Digital Media were also made to the Top 20 chart placing of Shapeshifters Lolas Theme and Goldie Lookin Chains -- Guns Dont Kill People Rappers Do.

Ben Drury, Managing Director of 7 Digital Media says Were very happy to have helped make history with the first number one in the new Official UK Download Chart. There has been a major shift in the way people buy and listen to music and legal downloads are fast becoming mainstream. The launch of the Official Download Chart is a testament to this. Weve proven that our services are complementary to major download services such as iTunes and with the majority of Westlife sales coming through our platform we offer an incredibly cost-effective way of promoting and selling digital music and video."

Sam Sparrow, New Media Co-ordinator, Atlantic Records It's great to see 7 Digital Media's strong presence in the official download chart. We worked with the team on Muse's 'Stockholm Syndrome' download single last year and since then we've worked with them consistently over the past year and I am pleased to see that they have established themselves as a major player in the commercial download market. 7 Digital Medias foresight and innovation, coupled with their flexibility as a sales provider has proved invaluable to our initial ventures in digital music retail."

Peter Jamieson, chairman of UK record companies' trade association the BPI, said, "I congratulate 7 Digital Media on their contribution to the first Official UK Download Chart. 7 Digital Media is a prime example of the kind of innovative new company springing up to service the fast-growing download market."

7 Digital Media provides digital media services including music and video download services to a range of different clients including record labels, broadcasters and consumer brands. Current clients including BMG, Warner Music, EMI, Universal, ITV, O2, V2, Independiente, Adventures In Music, and many others.

Since January 2004, 7 Digital Media has provided the technology behind over 100 digital single releases and over 20 digital stores and has delivered over 100,000 digital products in that time.

Key Features:

•    Every track and video can be purchased via mobile phone using SMS

•    Tracks can be iPod and Mac compatible

•    High quality 30-second preview clips for every track

•    High quality downloads at 192kps

•    Purchased tracks can be burned to CD and transferred to portable players

•    No software downloads necessary

About 7 Digital Media

7 Digital Media specialises in secure distribution of digital media including music downloads and video. 7's clients include Universal, EMI, Warner Music, BMG, V2, Independiente and O2 and since January 2004 has distributed over 100,000 digital products via over 175 partners including AOL, MSN, Freeserve, MTV, The Guardian, Lycos, The Sun, Virgin Radio, BT, NTL and Tiscali.

For more information visit www.7digitalmedia.com .

Contacts:

Ben Drury

7 Digital Media

ben.drury@7digitalmedia.com

+ 44 (0)207 494 6589

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