EMI adds weight to move online. (MW comment).

It has been a long time coming, but the music industry's migration online appears to be gathering pace.

The simple availability of music as legitimate downloads is not particularly new. There is a whole range of repertoire--some of it even by EMI artists--which has been ready to download since the second half of last year.

EMI's launch adds a much greater range of repertoire than was previously available, much bigger than the launch of its US offer last November, and also allows consumers to do more with the music they acquire via the net.

But what makes this week's EMI downloads launch so significant and unusual--and so welcome--is the fact that this is not a one-off delivery of catalogue. If EMI follows through with its proposals, we will see a living, breathing, growing catalogue of repertoire emerging on the digital market over the coming months and years.

As each week goes by, new music will be added and the EMI offer will continue to expand.

The way one EMI insider described it was as a genuine shift in the company's focus; on the schedules, radio date will now also mean "online date" too.

With Apple also due to announce today (Monday) its own new music service with repertoire licensed from--if the word is true--the ...