eMusic hopes Europe is ready to go indie.

eMusic

The digital download service, second only to iTunes in the latest market share data from NPD Group, launched its service across Europe today, hoping to lure customers with an indie-only music catalog and the promise that once they buy a song through the service, they can do whatever they want with it.

The subscription-based service debuted today in all 25 European Union member nations, making it the first legal service launch across the EU at once. The European sites will charge a monthly subscription fee that ranges from 8.99 pounds ($16.79), or 12.99 euros, for 40 downloads to 14.99 pounds, or 20.99 euros, for 90 downloads.

"The monopoly of iTunes in Europe is over," eMusic CEO David Pakman said. "European consumers, fed up with homogeneous music and services focused only on mainstream pop, can now discover a wealth of music created to transcend rules, boundaries, and commercialism."

eMusic's download store is based on the premise that customers will be attracted to a service that sells music in the MP3 format, despite that its catalog doesn't include any content from the major record labels. eMusic doesn't sell music with digital rights management technology, which restricts what a user can do with a song, such as a certain amount of burning to a CD or transferring to a portable device. DRM also dictates that subscribers to services like Napster or Rhapsody risk losing the music they downloaded if they do not maintain their subscription, as the DRM can render the music unplayable once a subscription lapses.

But because its music comes without restrictions, eMusic is the only other legal download service whose music can play on an iPod. Apple's proprietary FairPlay DRM is not compatible with any non-iPod player. Most of the other services use Microsoft's PlaysForSure DRM, which is not compatible with the iPod.

That fact also means that the major labels--Universal Music Group (U2, Killers), Sony BMG (Shakira, Dixie Chicks), Warner Music (Madonna, Green Day), and EMI (Coldplay, Rolling Stones)--won't play ball with eMusic.

Despite being limited to indie labels only, eMusic carries 1.7 million songs from 8,500 independent record labels, including tracks from White Stripes, Johnny Cash, Bob Marley, Miles Davis, Basement Jaxx, Franz Ferdinand, and Bjork.