September 12, 2007

By By Ayala Ben-Yehuda, L.A.

Department store chain La Curacao will launch a digital music store by the end of the year called Pasito Tunes.

Powered by digital entertainment provider MusicNet, the bilingual service will offer Latin music downloads in genres such as salsa, cumbia, merengue, reggaeton, pop, rancheras, baladas and Tex-Mex-and will allow users to access all of MusicNet's catalog of 4.5 million songs and videos across genres.

Tracks will be sold individually or via monthly subscriptions at pasito.com/tunes and via in-store kiosks. Subscriptions for unlimited downloads will cost less than $20 if purchased in stores and "substantally lower" if purchased online, says La Curacao's business development sales and marketing manager Reuven Hayun. Single tracks will go for 99 cents.

The digital store will have an editorial voice, in which administrators can feature certain artists and albums. La Curacao will relaunch its Pasito.com site to include ringtones in early December, among other products.

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