Peter Gabriel is launching a new subscription music download store featuring high-quality, lossless recordings from new artists. The Music Club, launched by speaker manufacturer Bowers & Wilkins with Gabriel’s Real World Studios, will cost £23.95 for six months or £33.95 annually, giving subscribers a DRM-free album every month from upcoming artists who record at Gabriel’s Bath-based studio. Debut artists include Little Axe and Grindhouse. Rights on the recordings return to the artists after two months.
Lossless music right now is pitched at a very small segment of buyers – those who realise MP3s don’t sound as good as the CDs from which they were ripped, especially on high-end audio systems. But, when more broadband connections can transfer the large files quickly in future, lossless may become the default format. Radiohead released a FLAC version of In Rainbows in Decembers.
Gabriel (via Uncut): “One of the things that