U.S. Internet media company Yahoo said it is debuting its popular music service called Launch Music in Europe on Wednesday, its first crack at the region"s burgeoning online music market. Launch carries free and subscription-based programming that ranges from music videos to artist interviews to streamed music, which it is bringing to Europe as high-speed broadband Internet usage reaches mass market levels. Yahoo does not sell music downloads in North America, but the company said it would consider launching such features in the United States and abroad in the future. Launch"s customer base of monthly visitors tops 9 million.
"What we will be doing is building this service to take Launch global, and then we"ll look at the opportunities," David Goldberg, vice president and general manager for Launch Music on Yahoo, told Reuters. Launch will be a primarily advertiser-supported Web site in Europe, as it is in North America. Goldberg said Launch will likely team up with British music site Dotmusic, which is owned by BT Group, as part of a newly struck alliance to bring entertainment content to BT OpenWorld broadband subscribers.