MySpace buys imeem

MySpace buys imeem music site


MySpace's online music venture with recording
labels completed its purchase of song streaming site imeem on Tuesday,
scooping up its 16 million users and mobile phone applications for less than $1 million.
In
a blog post, MySpace Chief Executive Owen Van Natta said the deal would
allow the MySpace Music venture to integrate imeem's offerings over
time.
One of imeem's functions that MySpace lacks is a mobile phone applications that streams songs on Apple Inc.'s iPhones and devices using Google
Inc.'s Android operating system, such as the new Droid phone. "In the coming weeks, our team will be working
to take the aspects of imeem that users love and migrate them to
MySpace Music," he wrote.
The
music industry continues to experience falling sales of CDs, while
digital revenues have not yet made up the difference, in part because
consumers tend to buy singles rather than full albums when they do pay
for music.
Efforts such as MySpace Music and imeem are meant to allow people to listen and share music freely online, with revenue generated from advertising.
San
Francisco-based imeem launched its free music business in 2007, but
advertising revenues were lacking and the company was running out of
money.
The price
tag of less than $1 million represents a bargain for MySpace and is an
indication of how difficult the free music business remains.
In
May, Warner Music Group Corp. wrote off its entire $16 million
investment in imeem and also forgave $4 million it was owed by imeem in
song royalties in exchange for a small, minority equity
stake. Warner, EMI Group PLC, Vivendi SA's Universal Music and Sony
Corp.'s Sony Music Entertainment are all part of the joint venture with
MySpace, a unit of News Corp.
Imeem
visitors are now being directed to MySpace Music, and imeem users who
have set up profiles and song playlists will have them migrated over to
the MySpace Music platform soon.