EMI To Sell Music Through Widgets; Destinations Includes MySpace And Artist Sites
By Robert Andrews - Sat 30 Jun 2007 04:12 PM PST
EMI Music is going to start selling music through widgets to be placed into MySpace and artists’ own sites, among others. The widgets are made available through Napster founder Shawn Fanning’s company Snocap‘s MyStore service. (Release). The widgets can be placed by fans on their own sites but are also available on MySpace profiles - what’s beneficial for Snocap is that EMI will let Snocap place MyStores not just on its artists’ MySpace pages but also on their own official artist websites, making Snocap the official direct retail intermediary. (NYT)
The deal extends to EMI’s higher-quality, DRM-free MP3 line-up, making it Snocap’s first HD offering; prices $1.30 per song, and the press release suggests it will be available to U.S. consumers only. It’s the off-site widgetization of music retail. EMI worldwide digital head Barney Wragg: “You don’t have to have one big store which everyone has to come to; you can take this store and put it into pages all over the place.”
-- Acquisition: EMI and would-be buyer Terra Firma (via a holding company, Maltby) have extended their deadline to close the acquisition to July 4 after receiving acceptance of the offer from shareholders holding just 3.53 percent of the company. (EMI statement).
Posted in: Countries, UK & Europe, Entertainment, Music






