Emap DMP restructures in move to online stores.

Emap Performance's 5m [pounds sterling] Digital Music Project is restructuring its online music brands with a comprehensive move to focus them as online store-fronts rather than providers of editorial content.

The division -- which has launched Q4music, Mojo4music, Smirnoff-sponsored Ibiza dance music site Beachbeats, and thebox.co.uk since last June -- announced the changes as part of a company-wide cull of its online assets. The media company revealed it intended to halve its internet investment to 25m [pounds sterling] for the next financial year, losing a total of 100 staff through the closure of 14 sites. The company says the move is necessary for Emap Digital to achieve its target of break-even by 2003 following the cooling down of online advertising spending.

Digital Music Project managing director Jerry Perkins says 14 "junior editorial and production staff" are being laid off from the music sites and will be offered redundancy packages if they cannot be relocated within the company. He adds the restructuring will see the music ecommerce sites Q4music, Mojo4music and the forthcoming Kerrang! site, which have been built in partnership with HMV Online, ticketing site Aloud and Beachbeats, all cutting their editorial staff to become music storefronts.

"We've had to look closely at what added real value," says Perkins. "While editorial features attracted visitors and increased topline page impressions, we have to ...