Once the top music download site in Europe, it was announced this week that MyCokeMusic.com would shut its doors forever on 31 July. The closure of the site, which was operated by the struggling b2b digital music provider OD2 is another blow for the company which is seeing its business model eroded in the face of increasing competition from iTunes and direct to mobile downloads.

MyCoke attracted controversy for selling DRM WMA files that suffered from interoperability issues and technical problems - one key issue with the site involved downloaded files inexplicably timing out after purchase.  Given OD2's weak business model and adherence to Microsoft's WMA standard the company's future is a subject of much speculation - particularly when Microsoft starts rolling out its own music services across Europe. 

OD2 operates on a business model in Europe by selling 'white label' services to other companies such as Coke, MSN and Wanadoo. While this service may have been valuable for  clients at a time when the major labels were reluctant to get involved in digital music downloads, as the market has matured OD2's business model is looking more and more redundant. We'll wait and see how long this relic continues to lumber on.