U.K. Raises Awareness of MP3 Format

Major U.K. digital music retailers are adopting a new campaign aimed towards creating more consumer awareness and understanding of the MP3 format.

Major U.K. digital music retailers are adopting a new campaign aimed towards creating more consumer awareness and understanding of the MP3 format.

A new “MP3 Compatible” logo will be displayed on seven retailer’s websites – 7digital.com, Digitalstores.co.uk, HMV.com, Play.com, Tescodigital.com, Tunetribe.com and Woolworthsdownload.co.uk – to show consumers that all the downloadable music on their site will play on all PC and Mac computers as well as all portable music players. The logo will also make it easier for consumers to recognize which downloading sites are legitimate.

ERA Digital, the digital part of U.K.’s Entertainment Retailer’s Association, is behind the new campaign.

“2008 has been the breakthrough year for legal MP3 downloads,” ERA Digital CEO Russel Coultart said. “We now want to take the message out to music fans that they can legally buy downloads which are not locked to specific players or computers or mobile phones.”

Coultart also spoke about making the campaign international.

“We are in discussions with music retail organizations around the world to make ‘MP3 compatible’ an international standard,” he said.

Thomson, who licenses the MP3 format on the behalf of Fraunhofer Institute, the inventor of MP3, in Germany, supports the campaign.

“We welcome ERA’s initiative, which further illustrates the industry-wide adoption of mp3 as the global standard in digital music for its quality, convenience and ubiquity,” said Francois Thuiliere, director of marketing and business development for Thomson’s mp3 and Audio Licensing Group in a statement.

ERA is now also looking into manufacturers of digital music players to support the campaign.