Passionato Goes Live Across Europe Today

High-quality classical music downloads on Passionato now available for purchase by residents across Europe

London – 21st April, 2009: Based on the success of the launch in the UK, Passionato has responded to demand by launching across Europe, enabling residents within 14 countries to purchase from the world’s widest range of high-quality classical music downloads, for the first time. Downloads on www.passionato.com are now available for purchase by residents in the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain. Previously, downloads were only available for people accessing the site from within the UK. Europe represents the world’s second largest territory for digital classical music sales.

James Glicker, Founder and CEO of Passionato said: “The response to Passionato in the UK has totally exceeded our expectations, demonstrating that we really have met the demands for the under-served classical music download audience. I’m delighted that we are now able to offer this same level of high quality service to European residents.”

Passionato’s drive into Continental Europe follows the growth of an active database of over 15,000 registered members in the UK (of which 50% are aged over 45, with a strong male bias) together with over 250,000 unique visits since launch. Passionato, which launched on September 11 last year in the UK, has been billed as ‘iTunes for classical music lovers’.

To co-incide with the European rollout, the home page of Passionato.com has undergone a refresh and now features a helpful guide to classical music downloads.

Please visit www.passionato.com

Passionato.
Classical Redefined.
“Classical music downloads done right” – CNET

For more information or to arrange an interview please contact:

Rob Gotlieb
Passionato
rob {at} passionato(.)com
+44 (0)7908 398 826

About Passionato
Passionato is the world’s most comprehensive online high quality audio (320kpbs MP3 and lossless FLAC) classical resource, and provides access to catalogues from the largest major classical labels as well as the key independent classical labels.

Launched in September 2008 and designed for classical music lovers, Passionato’s main features are: DRM-free recordings, transferable to any portable device and burnable to CD; high audio quality downloads (320kbps MP3 and lossless FLAC); access to free software (the Passionato Player), specifically developed to help organise users’ existing classical CDs alongside tracks purchased through the Passionato Store; an unprecedented level of recording information which users benefit from when they download a track, work or album, and when they import their own CD libraries to their computers; the ability to search Passionato’s recordings using over 10 fields, including by work, composer, conductor, ensemble and record label; and now the ability to search for live events and purchase tickets. Downloads on Passionato are available for purchase by residents in 15 territories throughout Europe.