Universal Music Group unearths Lost Tunes

Record execs over at Universal Music Group have been digging through their archives this year, partaking in some good ol' musical spelunking. The task at hand: to sift through the music company's vast catalog and curate a selection of "exclusives and hidden gems"—works they personally hold dear, but have become long-since forgotten to many. The result: Lost Tunes, an online digital-download website (currently U.K.-only) that launched yesterday.

The service's library, a work-in-progress, currently contains 829 rare albums, 130 of which cannot be found elsewhere. While iTunes and other services might boast an ever-expanding, ginormous collection of new and old releases, Lost Tunes prides itself on its accessible size. "We carefully edited our selection (and sometimes argued with each other over them) so we've only included music we love, and left out all the thousands of other albums we were sure about," says the website explains. Artists currently found on the site include The La's, Caravan, Marvin Gaye, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Jimmy Cliff.

Lost Tunes does pledge, however, to add more than 500 exclusive albums over the next six months. It's not as if they're at a loss for material-- after all, Universal Music Group holds the title of largest music company in the world. Already the site features albums from Universal labels like Verge, Geffen, Island and Motown, with more to come in the future.

Powered by media delivery company 7digital, Lost Tunes allows users to download individual songs or entire albums from its handpicked library of dusted-off classics in the form of high-quality MP3s (320 kbps). Downloads are DRM-free, allowing users to listen to their purchases on up to three computers and upload to MP3-compatible music players (iPod and so forth) or burn to CDs. Single songs cost £0.99 (about $2.00 USD) a piece and full albums start at £5.99 (about $12.00 USD).

What you won't find on Lost Tunes is an option for CD orders. In fact, the entire concept of Lost Tunes provides for further commentary on the state of brick-and-mortar record stores versus online downloading, particularly in relation to hard-to-find classics-- though the site beckons users to view it "as your small record store, run by a team dedicated to helping you find the very best music."

Lost Tunes is broken down into genres (rock, pop, dance, jazz/blues, roots, soul, and spoken word) and 38 subgenres. Users can use its search tool, or step it up with its 'Smart Search," allowing further specification by genre, decade, and label.

International Lost Tunes sites are slated to launch later this year.