As hinted at back in February, Last.fm has been trawling around looking for a buyer and today it found its harbour in the form of a US media giant. The ‘social music’ site has been bought by CBS Corporation for $280m (£140m). This is less than the earlier rumour, but still the largest-ever buyout of a UK-based “Web 2.0” site. The site was founded in the UK five years ago
Microsoft’s XBox site has published a document that shows how to turn the XBox 360 gaming device into an iPod accessory: “We’re happy to report that the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system works with MP3 music files on Apple iPod portable audio players, right out of the box. Just connect your iPod’s USB cable into any controller port on your Xbox 360 console, then go to the Media
Barney Wragg, vice president of eLabs at Universal Music International, told MusicBites at the launch of the new video iPod, that the new iPod made the business of downloading both music and videos just plain “simple”. Plus, the new iMac was a potential TV-killer. “I had been thinking about getting a Windows Media Centre at home, plugged into the TV screen. But now it’s definitely going to be an Apple,”
Sales dive at HMV – Manchester Evening News: The company warned investors today that there were few signs of an upturn on the high street at present. At HMV stores like-for-like sales in the UK fell 11.5 per cent in the three months to Saturday – almost three times as fast as the decline over the previous eight weeks. Shares dived 10 per cent to 213.25p on the news. HMV
Music companies sell bootlegs to fight piracy(WSJ): Vivendi Universal SA’s Universal Music and Instant Live, owned by Clear Channel Communications Inc., have announced a blanket licensing agreement that lays the groundwork for Instant Live to issue concert recordings by Universal recording artists – provided the acts want to participate.
Reuters: Sanctuary ends all buy-out talks: The debt-laden music group that has issued a string of profit warnings in recent months.
Playlouder, has licensed acts from SonyBMG, the world#039s second largest record label, and is confident that the other two big record labels, Universal and EMI, will follow suit.