Major labels preparing new digital album format

• Sean Michaels
• guardian.co.uk, Monday 10 August 2009 12.23 BST
• Article history

Format war .. the four major labels are to go head-to-head with Apple

Forget WAV, MP3 and M4A – major labels have something new in mind, and it's called CMX. Sony, Warner, Universal and EMI are reportedly preparing a new digital album format that will include songs, lyrics, videos, liner notes and artwork.

The news comes just weeks after reports of a similar project, Cocktail, being developed by Apple. According to the Times, Apple rejected CMX and instead began work on an in-house alternative. It is not clear how Cocktail and CMX will differ, other than ownership.

"Apple at first told us that they were not interested, but now they have decided to do their own, in case ours catches on," a label rep told the Times. "Ours will be a file that you click on, it opens and it would have a brand new look, with a launch page and all the different options. When you click on it you're not just going to get the 10 tracks, you're going to get the artwork, the video and mobile products."

However, this may be of little interest if CMX isn't compatible with iTunes, the default music software for iPods, iPhones and Apple computers. Whereas labels are eager to resuscitate the album format in an age of singles, Apple is concerned with selling hardware, including a tablet computer rumoured to be launching this fall.

The major labels plan to launch CMX, which is just a working title for the format, in November. It will reportedly be "soft-launched" with a few select releases. "We are not going out in force," the industry source said. "What you are going to see is a couple of releases thrown out there to see what people like. We are working with the retailers now."