Coke to Launch UK Music Download Service Next Month

The soft drinks giant said that in January it will begin selling music downloads from a catalog of 250,000 songs supplied from each of the five major music labels.

The artists range from Eminem to Elvis, delivered through a partnership with UK-based music download specialists OD2. The companies did not announce the pricing plan for downloads.

The European market for legal music downloads, though small at the moment, has attracted intense interest from major media companies and retailers ranging from Virgin Megastores to Time Warner's <TWX.N> AOL unit.

Still, the industry-sanctioned sites are running well behind the free file-sharing services run by Kazaa and iMesh.

Coke, which has huge brand appeal and a massive marketing budget, is expected to bring some much-needed publicity to the subscription download services.

Coke, a sponsor for the official UK music chart, will also become the sponsor of the forthcoming official download chart. The new download site will be at www.Mycokemusic.com. The download service is for the UK market only, the company said. Coca-Cola's marketing approach has less to do with selling drinks directly than to associate itself with an attractive lifestyle, particularly to young, tech-savvy consumers.

Coke's main rival, PepsiCo Inc. <PEP.N>, will join forces with Apple Computer Inc. <AAPL.O> iTunes download service in a 100-million-song "under-the-cap" giveaway beginning in February. The Apple service is not available in Europe.