MTV will tomorrow launch its long anticipated (you've been longly anticipating it, right?) new digital music service Urge, a Microsoft based system that will utilise the new Windows Media Player 11, also released tomorrow, and access MusicNet's existing catalogue of 2 million tracks.
The new service will, like Napster and MusicNet powered services from Virgin and HMV, offer both an iTunes style a-la carte download shop and a subscription package. It is the latter, available for $9.95 a month for PC use and $14.95 a month for portable player use, which the TV network is expected to most heavily push.
The new digital music platform will hope to benefit from cross-promotion across the MTV network. Urge will offer access to downloadable playlists, blogs, news and features from numerous MTV shows, including 'Total Request Live', plus shows on other stations owned by the network, including VH1's 'I Love The...' and CMT's 'Crossroads'. And needless to say, the service will be heavily promoted on all MTV channels and existing MTV websites.
Industry insiders will be watching the launch of the new service closely. There are, of course, a plethora of subscription based download platforms in the market, but with market leader Apple continuing to push the a la carte download model the whole subscription thing is yet to capture the mainstream imagination. Some wonder if MTV, with its existing loyal audience of music fans, could be the organisation to change that.