Sanoma to start an online music store
Helsingin Sanomat and Ilta-Sanomat have founded a joint online music store to operate in connection with the web pages www.iltasanomat.fi, www.helsinginsanomat.fi and www.nyt.fi. As of today the service can be found on http://www.iltasanomat.fi/musiikki and http://musiikkilataamo.hs.fi.
? We wish to give the consumers an easy and legal way to get music as a natural complement to our disc reviews. Sanoma's purpose is to provide the largest and easiest-to-use online music store in Finland. We believe that we can strongly contribute to increasing music sales on the net. The service strengthens our cross-media way of operation and the status of net services among the important target group of young adults, says Mikael Pentikäinen, President of Sanoma Corporation.
Disc sales in Finland amounted to EUR 105 million in 2004. The online sale of music will grow rapidly in next years.
? Disc and music industry has been one of Ilta-Sanomat's biggest media customers for years. It's natural to strengthen this co-operation on the net. Ilta-Sanomat Oy already is one of the biggest consumer trading places through its market places under the Keltainen Pörssi and Huuto.net brands. Ilta-Sanomat Oy's pages are visited by nearly 1 000,000 different persons per week. There is a strong demand for music trade, says Pekka Harju, President of Ilta-Sanomat.
? Foundation of this service is a natural way to continue after buying Radio Helsinki. Even before, it has been possible to listen to the music discussed in our papers by the Nyt.fi online service. We wish to focus on Finnish music, says Pekka Soini, President of Helsingin Sanomat.
In the sales of recordings in Finland, the share of domestic music was 56% in 2004, which is top class at European level.
The service will be set up together with record companies. The Swedish InProdicon, which is the biggest doer in the field in the Nordic countries, will be in charge of technical production.
Helsingin Sanomat Oy and Ilta-Sanomat Oy are part of the Sanoma division of the SanomaWSOY Group.
Additional information:
Mikael Pentikäinen, President, Sanoma Corporation, tel. +358 9 122 2000
Pekka Soini, President, Helsingin Sanomat Oy, tel. +358 9 122 3260
Pekka Harju, President, Ilta-Sanomat Oy, tel. +358 9 122 3600