IRISH bands will find it easier to sell their music, thanks to a new MySpace add-on from Downloadmusic.ie,w rites Jim Carroll.

The application, which was announced by the online store this week, will enable acts to sell tracks via text message directly from their MySpace profiles.

There is no need for the customer to have a credit card for the 99-cent-per-track transaction as they will be billed directly by their mobile phone service provider. In addition, these sales also count when it comes to compiing the official weekly Irish chart.

According to downloadmusic.ie's Johnny Beirne, the new application is designed to enhance what the store currently offers to Irish acts.

"In many cases, fans are more likely to go to a band's MySpace site than their website," he says.

"This application and the use of text messages means that there is more chance of an impulse purchase." Over 900 acts have registered with downloadmusic.ie since it opened for business in September 2006, with the likes of Fight Like Apes, Codes, The Kinetiks, Republic Of Loose and Aslan using it to sell tracks.

Acts receive 35 cent per track sold on Downloadmusic.ie via mobile phone - or 50 cent where a credit card is used. The rest of the 99 cent goes to either the mobile phone network or card provider.

Downloadmusic.ie now also operates in Britain, where their textatrack.co.uk service went live last week.

"We've already signed up 25 to 30 acts and we've had sales across all the mobile networks in the UK," explains Beirne. "Northern Irish acts are naturally delighted with this new offering and we're waiting to put a deal in place for sales to count in the UK charts."

Downloadmusic.ie now hopes to make inroads into the US market, where textatrack.com is already up and running. "I've been over there and had a very good response to the service," says Beirne. "I suppose we're very much like a musician trying to crack America." There are also plans to launch the service in 2009 in Germany and elsewhere.

For more, see www.Downloadmusic.ie.

Castle Palooza's magic

The 2,000 capacity Castle Palooza festival has won many plaudits from punters and pundits during its three-year run.

Now the Co Offaly event, headlined this year by The Parlotones and The Mystery Jets, has made the shortlist for Best European Festival in the UK Festival Awards, where it's competing with such giants as Exit (Serbia), Benicassim (Spain), Roskilde (Denmark) and fellow Irish fest Oxegen.

Naturally, Castle Palooza's organisers are making the most of this inclusion and early-bird tickets for next year's August Bank Holiday weekend festival are now on sale at a recession-friendly price of €59.

Couples who still have some cash in their pockets after this week's budget can buy Treat Yourself tickets for €299, which include two weekend passes, a fully equipped and pitched tent, and a champagne breakfast.