Music Ally

After protracted negotiations, Sony is now the full owner of Sony BMG, having paid former partner Bertelsmann Media Group $1.2 billion to buy out its 50% stake. The company will be renamed as Sony Music Entertainment, and will sit within Sony’s North American division. (more…)

Hey, big news: consumer electronics giant Sony is going to start selling digital music! Oh, hang on… Okay, so Sony has already tried this digital distribution lark with its Connect service, which flopped badly. However, the company has just announced a three-year plan for a more ambitious digital distribution service, covering music, films and TV shows. The idea is to distribute this content to a host of devices, including computers, TVs, mobile phones, Wi-Fi enabled music and video players, and PS3 consoles. Sony plans to spend $16.8 billion building the distribution platform, but the question is whether it can sign up all the rival studios and labels, rather than just focus on content from other Sony divisions.

Sony Corporation of America has acquired media metadata firm Gracenote for around $260 million plus extra earnouts. The deal, which is expected to close in May, will see Gracenote operating as a separate division within Sony, with its existing senior management. There’s some intriguing implications, given that Gracenote’s technology is used by Apple (more…)