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HP extends access to Paul McCartney's digital library to the public

Paul McCartney's digital library of music, photos and much more is now available to the public with help from HP.
Written by Rachel King, Contributor

For the first time, Hewlett-Packard is opening up access to the public for Paul McCartney's digital treasure trove of both professional and personal multimedia content.

The online portal, which could be considered the first of its kind, is a hub for the former Beatle's extensive library of digital music, lyrics, photos, collections, merchandise, blogs and more. Visitors to the site can get a tour and see a few items for free, but full access requires a premium (meaning, paid) membership.

HP built the digital library last year after being approached by McCartney's team. Originally, the cloud-based digital library was intended solely for McCartney's use.

At the time, it raised questions as to whether or not the content would be made public, and if this could open up a potential new revenue option for both cloud providers and the music industry.

Now, it looks like both of those possibilities are coming true. There are probably few musicians that have the kind of wealth of media content that McCartney does.

But this could definitely provide the music industry, which continuously needs to look up for new ways to make money in the face of piracy, with an innovative way to strengthen fan bases.

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