Vimpelcom has launched a new online music service named Beeline.Muzyka.
Offering customers more than a million music tracks, it joins a growing list of such services available in Russia, with their popularity expected to grow following the enactment of a new anti-piracy law at the beginning of this month.
Vedomosti reports that this is the second such music service operated by Vimpelcom, with the telco having recently entered into a partnership to launch Yandeks.Muzyka.
Other companies that also operate services include MegaFon(Trava.ru) and Rostelecom (Zabava.ru), though MTS failed in its efforts to include music on its Omlet.ru service and now offers only movies and cartoons.
Yet despite this, it will probably be sometime before most of these services start to make a profit.
Data produced by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) shows that the music market in Russia was worth $76 million (€57.2 million), or 30% less than a year earlier, despite the abundance of music platforms.