MP3.com has signed a deal with Australian new media company Infosentials to offer a downloadable business information service through its music portal.
MP3.com says it will use the partnership to expand into the business information market.
Melbourne-based Infosentials, which is headed by former Nine Network current affairs journalists Michael Schildberger, has created an on-demand digital subscription channel on MP3.com.
The Channel features the company's Business Essentials program, which has been available to Australian users through a variety of formats for some time. The subscription channel will allow customers to download and stream specific business interviews and access an archive of Business Essentials content.
Consumers can purchase monthly subscriptions to the channel and Infosentials will make available DAM (Digital Automatic Music) CDs for purchase and instant listening on the site.
Infosentials deputy managing director, Richard Siegersma described Business Essentials as a monthly, interview-based program that allowed business owners and managers to share information and ideas in their own words.
Siegersma, who operates out of the United States, said he hoped college and high school students from around the world, who made up a significant portion of MP3.com users, would use the Infosentials channel as a learning tool as well as for entertainment.
MP3.com CEO Michael Robertson said although the company had built a business around digital artists and their music, the infrastructure accommodated all digital audio content.
"We anticipate tremendous growth in the audio books and education sectors over the coming months," he said.
The Infosentials Channel will join the Classical Music Channel, The Children's Channel, and hundreds of other on-demand subscription channels created by digital artists and labels on MP3.com.
Like other content owners who create channels on MP3.com, Infosentials will set the price for its individual channel and administer the manner in which its content is accessed.
