Music firms reach out to creator of Napster
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LOS ANGELES As a teenager, Shawn Fanning brought free music to the masses, creating the Napster file-swapping program and unleashing a technological genie that granted the wishes of fans seeking virtually any song at any time - gratis.
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Music download sewvice Napster will try to claim a piece of the growing market for mobile phone ringtones through a partnership with Dwango Wireless, which specializes in wireless content.
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- Napster Inc , one of the largest  digital music retailers, said it will partner with Swedish  telecom equipment maker Ericsson   and  Chilean telecommunications company Entel PCS  to launch  its mobile music service in Latin America for the first time.
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Group is selling source code to Napster and Cisco's firewall software.
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Napster founder Shawn Fanning is back in the music-downloading game, this time with a legal service that has the blessing of at least some significant members of the music industry.
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Napster Inc, one of the largest digital music  retailers, said it will partner with Swedish telecom equipment  maker Ericsson and Chilean telecommunications company Entel PCS  to launch its mobile music service in Latin America for the  first time.
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Internet music download company Napster launched a Japanese service Tuesday aimed at tapping the growing demand for music-to-go and catching up with Apple's iTunes in one of the world's biggest music markets.
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Napster founder Shawn Fanning is returning to the music downloading arena with a brand new offering that is receiving reasonable support - given their histories together â-rom the music industry.
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(InfoWorld) - Napster, the remade version of the popular Internet music sharing service, is in talks over a sale or possible strategic partnership, the company said Monday. The announcement comes as a steady stream of new competitors enter the market, includingÂ SanDisk with partner RealNetworks, andÂ Microsoft with its Zune MarketplaceÂ strategy. It also comes amid a sharp downturn in user figures for Napster, which has seen its user base erode to 512,000 users at the end of June, from 606,000 at the end of March. Napster said it has hired UBS Investment Bank to assist management in the "evaluation of strategic alternatives," in response to interest from a third party in potentially acquiring or establishing a venture with the company. Napster also said it remains in a strong position to continue building its own business, with or without such a deal, highlighting its cash position of $97 million. The announcement sent Napster's Nasdaq-listed stock up 12.4 percent in after-market trading, to $3.99. The company set no timetable for finalizing the evaluation, and said the talks may not result in any deals. Formed in 1999, Napster popularized peer-to-peer music sharing on the Internet, gaining notoriety when a recording industry lawsuit ultimately shut it down and set the precedent for further legal victories over similar online services. A few years after the legal defeat, RoxioÂ bought the rights to its name, and in late 2003Â re-launched itÂ as a legal music download store. Napster faced stiff competition from the moment of its rebirth, mainly from Apple ComputerÂ and its popular iPods, and the iTunes Music Store. Napster currently offers a free 512MB digital music player, or a 1GB one for $50 to users who sign up for its monthly service for three months. It also started an advertising-supported music service in May that allows users to listen more than two million songs at no charge, up to five times each. The company reported a net loss of $9.8 millionÂ in the three months ending June 30, on revenue of $28.1 million.
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Thanks two a partnership with Dwango Wireless; the new Napster is prepared to enter the mobile technology realm. But this time, it&#39;s not for illegal mp3s.
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(InfoWorld) - The co-founder of a Web site that offers free streamed music from top artists said he's determined to operate his service legally despite menacing overtures from Universal Music Group. The Web site, Deezer.com, based in France, has been signing up users at a fast pace thanks to its user-friendly interface and streamed music from thousands of artists, including Maroon 5, Rihanna, The Beatles, and The Rolling Stones. The site offers about 200,000 songs and has signed up 300,000 registered users in the past few months, co-founder Jonathan Benassaya said on Monday. Most of the users are in France, he said, although the site is available in 16 languages. The record labels have been less enthusiastic. Universal Music, a division of Vivendi Universal, said on Friday that Deezer.com's use of its music was illegal and that it would take "all measures necessary" to get its music removed from the Web site, according to press reports. Benassaya insisted on Monday the service is legal, however -- or at least, that it will be soon. "We are not robbers," he said. "We want to pay for the rights to our music, but it takes time to put all the agreements in place." Deezer.com originally operated as Blogmusik.net but shut down in February under pressure from the music industry. It relaunched with its new name last week after it signed a deal with SACEM, a group that collects royalties for authors and songwriters in France. The recording industry told Deezer.com that the deal with SACEM was a necessary first step before it could sign deals with the major labels, according to Benassaya. His company is now in talks with the labels and is confident that it will sign deals with them soon to begin paying royalties, he said. Universal Music, EMI Group, and Warner Music did not return calls seeking comment on Monday, and Sony BMG could not immediately be reached. Asked if Deezer.com should have waited until the agreements were in place to launch the service, Benassaya countered that YouTube launched its service before it signed deals with content owners to distribute their video. He also said that Deezer.com has been operating since April and that only now has Universal raised its objection. While Deezer.com is supposed to let people stream music only, some users have figured out a way to download songs to their computers, something that's only likely to further irritate the music labels. "It appears there are some leaks in the Web site security and we have been working on that since Friday," Benassaya said. "This week by Tuesday or Wednesday, we will put in place new security so you cannot download music." Deezer's problems arose when it got caught in the crossfire of competition between two French ISPs, Free and Neuf Cegetel, according to Benassaya. Neuf announced a deal with Universal Music last Monday to launch a music download service for its customers. Deezer.com was launched two days later, and Free has been promoting Deezer.com as an alternative to its own customers.
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&quot;Napster Mobile is a natural extension for the biggest brand in digital music and will enhance our development of wireless delivery,&quot; Napster Chairman and CEO Chris Gorog said.
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Napster creator Shawn Fanning has spoken publicly about his new project - a licensed file-sharing service with an almost unlimited selection of tracks.
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Internet music download company Napster Inc. on Tuesday launched a Japanese service aimed at tapping a growing market for music-to-go, the company said.
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The company has formed an agreement with mobile developer and publisher Dwango Wireless to launch the service - Napster Mobile - across the US and Canada in 2005.
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For many of us, it seems like a long time since the battle of the bands was waged on the front pages of the media. It started with Napster, an illegal file sharing service that made it possible
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The kid who sparked the digital music revolution says he&#39;s back to finish the job. As a 19-year-old college freshman, Shawn Fanning created Napster, the file-sharing software program