Online music strikes a chord with Computacenter

iGroup - the ebusiness division of Computacenter - claims to have launched a one-stop shop for record companies looking to sell music over the Net.

The company has already signed up some of the labels and distributors that handle bands such as Iron Maiden, The Petshop Boys and Salako. The service - branded under the MaximumVolume.net name - can be used for interactive marketing and distribution of content, as well as hosting and digital rights management.

iGroup is using InterTrust and Magex, NatWest's digital commerce initiative introduced last year, to underpin the service.

Simon Scott, director of the iGroup, said: "From the days of RCA and Phillips inventing vinyl formats to more recent protocol developments, technology has driven the music industry. The Internet is no exception."

He claims MaximumVolume.net is better than competing services for four main reasons: it removes the risk a copyright holder incurs when getting their content online; it was designed with the music industry in mind; is managed by creative people from the music industry as well as technical staff; and is backed by an established reseller.

The offering also promises to integrate customer relationship management tools to optimise the selling of individual tracks or albums online.

Magex said MaximumVolume.net makes, "the dream of Internet music a practical and commercially sound proposition".

IGroup and Computacenter declined to reveal which hardware vendors it has chosen for the Web-hosting service.