Universal & X5 Form Unique Digital Music Partnership
Universal
Music Group and digital music specialists X5 Music have formed U5, a unique partnership
to produce digital compilation albums from the extensive catalogs Universal’s Decca, Deutsche Grammophone, Verve and Blue Note
Records labels.
X5 Music Group has scored #1's with low priced digital-only classical, blues and jazz music compilations with high
track counts and prices as low as $.99 – $1.99 driven by SEO friendly
titles like "Mozart – 100 Supreme Classical Masterpieces". X5's "Essential Blues" hit #1 on some digital charts with 20 songs for $5 including hits by Buddy Guy, Robert Cray and
John Hammond.
The U5 partnership will
curate 50+ digital albums monthly for global release. The first slate of U5
releases, available now, include the new "50
Greatest" series which has launched with "The 50 Greatest Violin
Pieces” by Joshua Bell, “The 50 Greatest Piano Pieces” by Lang Lang and “The 50
Greatest Performances of Classical Music” compilation.
"We
see this as the beginning of a unique worldwide partnership that will bring
this extraordinary music to a wider consumer audience," X5 CEO Johan
Lagerlof said. "With the addition of Universal's classical catalog, we
will be able to take our success in classical music to an even greater
level."
"Digital music storefronts offer unlimited self space, but a very limited end cap," Scott Ambrose Reilly,
X5's North American CEO told Hypebot last year, referring to the prime self space
that drives sales in brick and morter retailers. X5 successfully cuts
through the digital clutter for both labels and fans by creating these
value driven packages with SEO friendly titles. "Many of our customers
are casual fans and digital music impulse buyers," according to Reilly.
"We help them find what they're looking for."
