• Comment
• Print Article
• Email
• Permalink

MySpace-Imeem deal highlights online music makeover

Written on

Nov 17, 2009 

Author

Gavin Dunaway  |

Share

MySpace-Imeem deal highlights online music makeover

ADOTAS – As sources are whispering about the site restricting free music plays, MySpace is close to acquiring music streamer Imeem, continuing its buying spree of the remnants of the Web 2.0 music services and cementing its position as king streamer.

All Things Digital’s Peter Kafka reported the MySpace-Imeem deal is less acquire and more “acqhire” — a source told Kafka that MySpace would like to absorb Imeem’s sales team as well as its engineering and its Snocap service.

Imeem has hobbled along with funding this year, raising $6 million at the end of September, but crushing debt and the inability to capitalize on free music streaming threw them back into the financial morass — and no investors were willing to offer a lifeline this time. Cue MySpace takeover — probably for a song, just like the iLike acquisition this past summer.

In a twist, iLike remains the top music application on Facebook, but the company recently restricted the app from alerting users to upcoming local concerts and displaying user music data in their profiles. This development flows with Facebook’s developer roadmap and was not a slight against iLike in particular, a spokesperson commented to TechCrunch, but it certainly throws a wrench in one of the app’s prominent features.

While Facebook is unlikely to kick iLike to the curb and alienate its users, management will likely quietly diminish its prominence on Facebook — it seems rather counterintuitive to plug a service of one of your biggest rivals.

MySpace is also one of the powers behind Google’s OneBox, which lets searches sample songs by artists and offers links to purchase. The other site is LaLa.com, which charges less than a dollar for unlimited streams of an album — something that Imeem used to offer for free.

In addition, a source told TechCrunch last week that MySpace is spending $20 million per month on streaming royalties — something the site can’t afford much longer. Recently installed CEO Owen Van Natta, a former Facebook exec brought in to renew the slumping social giant, has professed his desire to turn the site into an entertainment forum, but the rumors circulating are that a subscription model looms in the future.

Imeem is likely to go the way of the dinosaur, its guts sewed into the MySpace machine. Combined with MySpace’s acquisition of iLike and the likelihood of new subscription services, the days of unlimited, free streaming music may be numbered. However, MySpace seems to be positioning itself as the new baron of the online music streaming landscape.

Tags: facebook, iLike, Imeem, MySpace, streaming-music and subscription

• Comment
• Print Article
• Email
• Permalink

Article Sponsor

More News

• Infographic: HootSuite Analyses Social Media Impact of Super Bowl Ads
• Facebook to Serve Mobile Ads in Coming Weeks
• Survey: 39 Percent of Mobile Users Responded to Super Bowl Ads Via Mobile
• Sponsormob Leads the Way Into RTB for Mobile
• Weird Study: Mobile Purchasing While in the Bathroom on the Rise

• Right now, at the beginning of 2012, what are you watching the most closely for its ad and marketing opportunities?

  • Mobile. Smart devices have become standard, and advertising is only going to become more creative there.
  • Online video. It's a real competitor to TV now, and it presents really interesting ways to engage viewers.
  • Social media. The new Facebook timeline and the surge of Google+ have cracked the game wide open again.
  • Tempting as it might be, I don't want to get too involved in one aspect.
  • See, I think this might be a good time to see what would happen if we revisited MySpace, but made the ads slightly bigger... with more strobe effect.

  View Results

   Loading ...

• Polls Archive

Latest News

• Infographic: HootSuite Analyses Social Media Impact of Super Bowl Ads February 7th 2012 ADOTAS - So, it’s the Tuesday after the Super Bowl, [...] more »
• Facebook to Serve Mobile Ads in Coming Weeks February 6th 2012 ADOTAS – According to a Financial Times report, Facebook will [...] more »
• Survey: 39 Percent of Mobile Users Responded to Super Bowl Ads Via Mobile February 6th 2012 ADOTAS - During the Super Bowl yesterday, mobile ad network [...] more »
• Sponsormob Leads the Way Into RTB for Mobile February 3rd 2012 ADOTAS – For more than half a decade, Berlin-based tech [...] more »
• Weird Study: Mobile Purchasing While in the Bathroom on the Rise February 3rd 2012 DM CONFIDENTIAL - According to 11mark, three-quarters of Americans with mobile [...] more »
• This Week’s New Hires February 3rd 2012 ADOTAS – Another week, another round of new gigs. Here [...] more »
• Two Surveys: What Are We Doing with Mobile Devices During the Super Bowl? February 2nd 2012 ADOTAS - With the Super Bowl fast approaching and the [...] more »

News Archive

Features

• Rethinking the Online Advertising Ecosystem, Part One: Independent Publishers February 8th 2012
• Case Study: Social Ad Effectiveness February 8th 2012
• Video: “Build an SEO Foundation” Excerpt February 8th 2012
• Covering the Digital Buy: Super Bowl Winners and Losers February 8th 2012
• How Social Targeting Can Lead to Discovery February 7th 2012

Features Archive

Spotlight

Sponsormob Leads the Way Into RTB for MobileADOTAS – For more than half a decade, Berlin-based tech firm Sponsormob has remained relevant in an industry characterized by [...] more...

Reader Favorites

Classifieds

• PS Technical Writer - SEO Data Analyst
• Interactive Project Manager
• Media Buyer
• PHP Software Engineer (Facebook Platform/Social AP
• SEO/Marketing Internship at Green Education Startu

Recent Comments

• John Pike: The main problem facing independent publishers is Google, which is lowering the page rankings of
• Grovo How To Do SEO Video Series – ReadWriteWeb | SEO Facts: [...] has built sites for some major retailers and teaches SEO at New York University,
• Video: “Build an SEO Foundation” Excerpt – ADOTAS | Best Electronics Reviews: [...] Video: “Build an SEO Foundation” Excerpt – ADOTAS « Santorum Delivers
• Video: “Build an SEO Foundation” Excerpt – ADOTAS | Complete Seo Tips: [...] See more here: Video: “Build &#1072n SEO Foundation” Excerpt – ADOTAS [...]