San Francisco - INgrooves, a provider of digital distribution and marketing services for independent artists and record labels, on Wednesday announced a partnership with U.K. digital music store provider 7digital. Under the deal, music from INgrooves artists will be sold via the network of over 1,000 digital properties powered by 7digital in the U.K., Ireland, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Austria and Portugal.

Los Angeles - Major record label EMI's Australian unit has launched an MP3 download store in the country called Musichead MP3, Billboard reports. Powered by U.K.-based digital music store 7digital, Musichead launches with a library of over 500,000 tracks, and accepts payments via both credit card and PayPal.

London - U.K.-based digital music retailer 7digital on Tuesday announced a new agreement with Sony BMG to sell songs in the DRM-free MP3 format, making the retailer's entire 4-million-track catalog now available as MP3s. Sony BMG tracks previously purchased from 7digital in the WMA format will be upgraded to MP3 for free. To celebrate its milestone of having an all-MP3 catalog, 7digital is offering two MP3 albums for free to all users, while other selected albums will be priced at just $3.57.

London - Universal Music Catalog on Wednesday announced the launch of Lost Tunes, a new U.K. MP3 download store that aims to promote the major label's deeper catalog fare. Powered by independent retailer 7digital, the store at launch offers 134 albums, and will add some 500 more by year's end. The store will mine tracks from Universal's Trojan, Fiction, Decca Verve, A&M, Motown and Stax labels, among others, and offer a range of exclusive downloads. Currently featured on the store are albums from Link Wray, Nick Drake, Jimmy Cliff and Lightnin' Hopkins.

Brussels - The European Union has done away with the byzantine music royalty collection scheme that forced digital music services to acquire licenses to operate in each individual country, opting to instill a Europe-wide license for such services. Companies like Apple had pointed to the previous system as the cause of delays in rolling out its iTunes Store across Europe, and U.K.-based digital music retailer 7digital described the decision as "a blessing for us" to PaidContent UK.

London - Independent digital music retailer 7digital.com said on Monday that it has seen sales for the first half of 2008 increase 300% from a year ago, driven by the new availability of DRM-free MP3 tracks from Warner Music, EMI and others. The company, which now claims to be the second-largest digital music retailer in the U.K., said site traffic has increased 130% since January. The 7digital.com store now offers around 80% of its 4 million-track catalog in the MP3 format.

London - Sony United Kingdom on Tuesday announced a marketing partnership with digital music and video store 7digital.com, which will see voucher cards for free downloads from 7digital bundled with Sony Walkman Wirefree portable media players sold through Argos stores in the U.K. and Ireland. 7digital offers a library of DRM-free music videos that can be played on most portable players, including the Walkman.

London - ERA Digital, an offshoot of the U.K. trade group the Entertainment Retailers Association that includes HMV.com, Play.com, 7digital.com, Orange and Playlouder MSP, has released a five-point plan of reforms its says are "essential to maintain growth in the market."

London - European music download store 7digital.com on Monday announced a deal with Warner Music Group's (NYSE: WMG) Warner Music International, to sell downloads in MP3 format to its customers in the U.K., Ireland, Spain, France and Germany. The company, which claims 1.2 million registered customers, said the deal makes it the first European download store to offer Warner tracks as MP3s; over 80% of the store's 3.5 million-track catalog is DRM-free.

Cannes, France - U.K.-based digital music retailer 7digital announced on Monday that it has raised $8.5 million in new funding, led by Sutton Place Managers with participation from Balderton Capital.