The music company, SNOCAP, founded in 2002 by the former
Napster founder Shawn Fanning was acquired today by imeem. In October last
year, SNOCAP announced that it was laying off 60 percent of its workforce.
The company
confirmed that it may pursuing a sale. SNOCAP was considered as Fanninng’s
effort to enter into the legal music download market, but the music companies
were reluctant to work with him.
The only major success achieved by SNOCAP was considered its partnership
with the social networking site MySpace, announced in September 2006.
Through the partnership, Snocap has become the provider of
digital music retail tools for MySpace, marking the first music e-commerce deal
for both companies. The SNOCAP services enabled artists and labels with registered
content to set pricing, create stores, and sell their music in MP3 format.
In an interview given in October to CNET News.com, SNOCAP
CEO Rusty Rueff confirmed that its time to sell the company and he said the
layoffs were designed to help make the company more attractive to a buyer. And
it seems like he found the buyer.
Launched in 2004, imeem is the fastest-growing social
networking Web site, according to comScore data. More than 50,000 new users in
the age 24 or younger join the site every day. It is the fourth most popular
multimedia entertainment site in the U.S. after Google Inc’s YouTube,
Google Video and News Corp’s MySpace Videos, according to tracking firm Hitwise.
For imeem this acquisition means access to a powerful
content identification technology, a comprehensive Digital Registry, and an
enhanced team of executive and engineering talent. Financial terms of the deal
were not disclosed.
Imeem said it intends to expand the services and products it
offers. “The SNOCAP team built a great technology platform that will be useful
to imeem as we continue to grow,” said Dalton Caldwell, imeem’s founder and
CEO. “Together we’ll build on that work in the coming months, and give labels
and independent artists new ways to promote and sell their music through imeem,
MySpace and anywhere on the web.”
imeem was already using SNOCAP technology to automatically
identify tracks as they are uploaded by users, determine if the content owner
has permitted full streaming of their music, and manage payments to artists and
labels for use of their music on imeem.
As for MySpace stores, SNOCAP said it will continue to
operate its products and services without changes to users’ accounts or
services. Later this year, the company will make several enhancements to the
SNOCAP MyStore.
imeem‘s move follows after in January this year the company
bought Anywhere.FM, a San Francisco-based web music player and Internet radio
service.
