NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–It just got easier for Christian music fans to download their favorite songs to their computers — legally.
LifeWay Christian Stores, a division of LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention, has launched its new digital music downloading service, offering single songs via the World Wide Web for 99 cents and complete albums for $10 to $ 12. The service, made possible through a partnership with online music pioneer Liquid Digital Media (formerly Liquid Audio), is the first of its kind available through a Christian retailer.
Christian artists tobyMac, founding member of dc Talk and founder/co-owner/CEO of Gotee Records, and singer-songwriter Shaun Groves joined with Gospel Music Association President John Styll and representatives from Chordant Distribution Group and Liquid Digital Media to announce the downloading service at a Nov. 18 news conference at LifeWay Christian Stores’ headquarters in Nashville, Tenn.
“LifeWay is seeking to bridge the illegal-downloads divide by providing people with an easy, affordable and legal way to download their favorite Christian artists,” said Mark King, vice president of direct marketing for LifeWay Christian Stores.
King noted that the partnership will allow visitors to the lifewaystores.com website a unique shopping experience where they can purchase items such as books and gifts and download music — all in one shopping cart.
LifeWay’s new service requires no monthly subscription fee as other sites do, or special software to download. All songs are offered in Windows Media format. Once a customer purchases a song, the file can be downloaded to a PC with unlimited transfers to portable devices and CD-burner capabilities.
“People downloading songs without paying for them has been an industry-wide problem for years,” Styll said.
“Illegal downloads have been a growing problem in the Christian community, and they are causing economic harm to everyone involved in the music industry,” Styll said. “We applaud LifeWay for taking this leadership role in offering digital music downloads for purchase on the Internet, as it is a practical solution to this very real problem.”
LifeWay also announced it would have a number of national promotions with Chordant Distribution Group, including a giveaway of one song each day for 30 days to everyone who visits the lifewaystores.com website. The promotion, called “30 for 30,” begins Nov. 18. In addition, LifeWay will have several special promotions with Provident Music Distribution.
A delayed webcast of the news conference will be available Nov. 18 after 3 p.m. Central. To view the webcast, visit lifeway.com/news and click on “Digital Music Download Press Conference.”
Liquid Digital Media is a leading provider of software, infrastructure and services for the secure digital delivery of media over the Internet. The company provides content owners, websites and companies the ability to syndicate and securely sell digital media online with copy protection and copyright management. Consumers can preview and purchase downloadable music from hundreds of affiliate web sites in the Liquid Music Network.
LifeWay Christian Stores are owned and operated by LifeWay Christian Resources. The chain’s 119 stores are located throughout the United States and can be found online at lifewaystores.com.
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(BP) photos posted in the BP Photo Library at http://www.bpnews.net. Photo titles: MAC’S BACKING and APPRECIATIVE ARTISTS.
