The Deal
Monday, December 1, 
1:31 pm


[Posted on June 30, 2008 - 3:38 PM]
RealNetworks Inc. [RNWK] has added a download store to its Rhapsody music subscription service, becoming the latest company to offer consumers DRM-free MP3 music downloads. Competitor Napster Inc. [NAPS] launched...

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[Posted on June 27, 2008 - 5:29 PM]
Songkick.com Inc. CEO Ian Hogarth isn't quite ready to confirm the size of his company's reported $1.1 million first round of funding, but he tells me that it has formally...

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[Posted on June 27, 2008 - 10:45 AM]
If the price of downloadable music is marching inexorably toward zero, SpiralFrog Inc. expects to lead the brigade. The company, which launched an ad-supported service offering free downloadable songs in...

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[Posted on June 25, 2008 - 5:04 PM]
While digital music retailer Amie Street Inc.'s unique flexible pricing model has always been appealing for consumers, shopping on the site has at times been a frustrating experience, as its...

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[Posted on June 24, 2008 - 5:22 PM]
Topspin Media Inc., the musicians' services company that former Yahoo! Music chief Ian Rogers joined in April while it was still in stealth mode, has announced itself with a lengthy...

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[Posted on June 23, 2008 - 12:57 PM]
Live Nation Inc. [LYV] chairman Michael Cohl has resigned from the company's board of directors and his post as CEO of its Live Nation Artists division following a protracted dispute...

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[Posted on June 20, 2008 - 1:27 PM]
Is Live Nation Inc.'s well-publicized foray into recorded music dead? If not, it's on life-support, given the imminent departure of Live Nation's chairman, Michael Cohl. According to The Wall Street...

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[Posted on June 19, 2008 - 4:25 PM]
If musicians are likely in the future to make their money selling tickets and merchandise instead of records, will the price of live music rise accordingly? Or is it already...

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[Posted on June 19, 2008 - 3:02 PM]
Guy Hands may have gotten himself in deeper than he expected when his Terra Firma Capital Partners acquired EMI Music plc for $6.2 billion last year. But can the private...

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[Posted on June 18, 2008 - 1:09 PM]
Digital music distributor IODA today revealed a partnership with Spanish telecommunications operator and ISP Telefonica SA under which the telco will offer IODA's catalog of songs to mobile customers in...

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[Posted on June 17, 2008 - 5:41 PM]
Previously known chiefly for its computer peripherals and digital picture frames, startup Aluratek Inc. has introduced the first of two planned Internet radio products intended to provide access to the...

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[Posted on June 17, 2008 - 3:11 PM]
Ecast Inc. on Tuesday announced a partnership with multimedia content distributor Akamai Technologies Inc. [AKAM] in a deal to help the touchscreen jukebox maker accommodate traffic spikes on its network....

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[Posted on June 17, 2008 - 12:24 PM]
While Warner Music Group Corp. [WMG] withdraws from social music site Last.fm Ltd., Universal Music Group is further embracing the service. Universal has added its catalog of videos to Last.fm's...

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[Posted on June 13, 2008 - 2:32 PM]
The Deal's Richard Morgan reports that Sony Corp. [ADR: SNE] of America is nearing a deal with Bertelsmann AG under which the the Japanese giant will take full control of...

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[Posted on June 10, 2008 - 2:08 PM]
Flash memory developer SanDisk Corp. revealed plans to acquire MusicGremlin Inc., the creator of a wireless digital music player and companion subscription service, for an undisclosed amount. The five-year-old New...

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[Posted on June 10, 2008 - 8:00 AM]
For the second time this spring, scuffling record label EMI Group has dipped into the Bay Area technology talent pool to refresh its digital strategy. Cory Ondrejka, one of the...

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[Posted on June 9, 2008 - 4:28 PM]
An analyst with Sanders Morris Harris Group says Viacom Inc. [VIA-B] will spend $135 million to promote its wildly popular Rock Band game during the second quarter alone, an upward...

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[Posted on June 9, 2008 - 2:22 PM]
Warner Music Group pulled its catalog from Last.fm Ltd.'s on-demand streaming service over the weekend, stripping the service of music by artists ranging from Frank Sinatra to Nickelback. The label's...

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[Posted on June 6, 2008 - 2:58 PM]
"It wasn't me," they all said. Makers of file-sharing applications said they weren't responsible for people stealing music, even though they made it easy to do so. Connectivity providers and...

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[Posted on June 6, 2008 - 11:46 AM]
Much of the record industry has historically seen peer-to-peer file-sharing services as a threat, although those services are also known to be powerful market research tools. Likewise, live music promoters...

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[Posted on June 4, 2008 - 6:59 PM]
For an online music startup, one way to avoid striking costly deals with record labels while keeping them from squashing you with lawsuits is to rely on legal, authorized content...

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[Posted on June 3, 2008 - 5:41 PM]
Social music site operator Buzznet Inc. has been on a buying spree this year, acquiring several popular blogs following a new round of funding that included Universal Music Group. But...

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[Posted on June 3, 2008 - 3:00 AM]