HMV UK has teamed up with On Demand Distribution, a digital music distribution company, to offer the service. Users will pay a monthly subscription fee entitling them to a certain number of playbacks.
Damian Devine, marketing manager for HMV Australia, told ZDNet Australia the service was a UK initiative not an Australian initiative.
-We have no plans for paid downloads at this particular time," he said. -Not in the short term, anyway. It's just not part of our strategic plan."
The Web site for HMV Australia offers sound bytes and images, but nothing approaching the tertiary level of paid downloads, according to Devine. The site occasionally has downloads of complete songs through a partnership with Wired Entertainment, but these are mostly for promotional purposes.
Reuters contributed to this story
