Music Ally

An SEC filing made by RealNetworks states that MTV and RealNetworks are in talks about restructuring their joint venture participation in the music service Rhapsody, “to enable Rhapsody to operate more independently of either party.” The statement suggests that the pair might seek either a new investor or a buyer for Rhapsody. While services like Spotify get more press coverage and of course iTunes remains the giant of digital music, Rhapsody – launched in 2001 – is the most comprehensive music service from the point of view of editorial and categorisation. It has 750,000 subscribers paying between $12.99 and $14.99 per month but many of these are music fans using the service a lot – and therefore costing Rhapsody money. If Apple was to introduce a subscription service it would wipe out much of Rhapsody’s remaining appeal, whcih is why finding a new owner for it could make sense.

Claims have been made before that Apple is preparing to launch an iTunes-branded subscription-based music service, but the rumour has surfaced again with renewed intensity. Here’s the (supposed) details: it’ll launch in October, and for $129 a year, (more…)

Universal Music in the UK and Ireland has announced a joint venture with Sky to launch an MP3 music store and a hybrid subscription & MP3 download service. It’s the first major licence deal by Universal for MP3s; and is another huge vote of confidence in the concept of download to own subscription services. (more…)