Tesco has bought WE7, the digital music platform which offers free personalised radio stations online.
It’s part of the supermarket’s strategy to offer customers new ways of accessing digital entertainment.
Tesco paid £10.8m for the website, which has a library of 11 million tracks and lets users listen to their own music selection for free, mixed with adverts.
GMG Radio recently partnered with the site to launch various “extra” radio stations including Smooth Soul and Real Radio Top 40.
Tesco plans to launch additional digital music services from the WE7 platform in the coming months.
Mark George, Digital Director at Tesco, said “Customers and technology together are transforming the way we listen to music. Tesco is already one of the UK’s largest retailers of CDs; this move will help us offer a greater choice for the growing number of customers who want to access music instantly on any device, whenever and wherever they want. WE7 has a great team and a good technology platform from which we can launch a range of digital music services in the future.”
Steve Purdham, CEO of WE7 said “We are very excited by the prospect of teaming up with Tesco. With its loyal customer base, numerous marketing channels and international reach, we believe Tesco is the perfect partner to bring WE7’s music services to a wider audience. Tesco has been an innovator in entertainment retailing for many years and we look forward to continuing this innovation digitally.”
Tesco has bought a 91% stake in WE7 and will purchase the remaining shares within a period of weeks.
Posted on Sunday, June 17th, 2012 at 3:47 pm by RadioToday UK