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Club Asia & Napster announce partnership

For the first time ever an online music service is offering Asian music to the masses. London’s Young Asian Hit Music Station, Club Asia has exclusively joined forces with Napster to bring Asian music including downloads and streams to the fore front.

Napster is the first major digital music service to prominently feature Asian music content. Club Asia 963+972AM will be Napster’s Asian music tipster and shop front. Club Asia will use its wealth of knowledge and expertise in Asian music and its impartiality to provide Napster with up-to-date advice on what tracks to feature.

“Before, if you wanted to get a hold of up-to-date Asian music you would have to go to an Asian music shop in an Asian area. This is not always practical as we live in a world where we want walk into a supermarket and get everything we want. With this unique partnership between Club Asia and Napster, you are able to have access to the latest Asian music. This combats not only distribution but piracy issues which are a real threat to the Asian music industry”, says Club Asia’s Co-founder and creative Director Sumerah Ahmad.

“We are very excited to team up with Club Asia and draw on their expertise to bring Asian music to a wider audience,” said Jeff Smith, Napster international Programming Director. “The quality of both international and Brit-Asian music is very high and could quite easily translate into mainstream appeal. Napster also gives Asian artists and record labels a legitimate platform to register their music for chart eligibility.”

“The Napster / Club Asia initiative is a great example of how the digital format is bringing down barriers and making it easier for new artists and a wider range of musical genres to achieve significant profile with music buyers,” said Omar Maskatiya, Charts Director of the OCC. “The Official Charts Company has always been keen to represent more clearly the success and popularity of Asian music in the UK and this exclusive partnership looks set to boost that aim.”

The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) too supports the Club Asia/ Napster initiative. BPI Chairman Peter Jamieson said, “We welcome Napster’s commitment to the vibrant Asian music market. This is a prime example of how digital music can take what might be regarded as specialist music to a far wider audience. It is particularly welcome since Asian music has long suffered from rampant piracy.”

As well as being Napster’s Asian music tipster, Club Asia is helping facilitate the relationship between record labels and the digital online music industry.