Insider - North West Business Insider August 2000 FROM DISC TO DISK M3M Media has a head start of 6 - 12 months on it's rivals, according to co-founder Declan Cosgrove. Having developed the eSingle and eDisc range of products it is the leading onlie marketing company for the music industry. The first eSingle - a small digital file with a music track attached to an email - was launched by Blur and contained audio, video, graphics and text. Cosgrove, whose last band was Vivid, set up the company with his cousin Fergus Geraghty - who had been writing digital compression techniques for years - over 18 months ago. Cosgrove works from a Rochdale office, Geraghty from Dublin. Cosgrove's other venture, Bite IT, produces websites for clients, including many major record labels. Following M3M's high profile first client, further majors rolled in quickly, an eDisk for Peter Gabriel's new album followed. But Cosgrove knows the company must expolit its lead and is well placed to do so now its been able to lower the price of the products. He Says:"We are making a big push to capture as much market share as possible so we will be launching to the independant labels and even unsigned bands at In the City." Cosgrove wants to establish the company so he can spend six months of the year writing music in Ireland. He takes some plesure in dealing with the directors of major labels where once they spent years banging on doors, grateful even to see a scout. Although he doesn't write off the majors, he believes they will come under threat from new technology. M3M is working on micro-payment methods which will make buying music over the internet much more practicable. He says: "With effective billing methods and better broadband networks, the music industry in a few years will look completely different."