Yahoo starts to sing a new tune over music downloading.After Yahoo Inc. acquired Santa Monica-based Launch Media in 2001, the streaming radio See Internet radio and digital media hub. service that also offered music videos took a back seat to higher-profile Yahoo services. "If you were an active user of Launch, it was clear that you were on Yahoo," said David Goldberg, founder of Launch and now vice president and general manager of Yahoo Music. "But for the casual user, it might not have been that clear." But in the wake of Apple Computer Inc.'s success with iTunes--the company reported users downloaded more than 250 million songs at 99 cents per song last year--and the emergence of music download A music download refers to the transferring of a music file from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment if required. services like Los Angeles-based Napster Inc., Yahoo is now playing catch-up. Earlier this month, Yahoo re-branded the Launch music site to become Yahoo!Music in an effort to funnel more users to its music properties. The marketing effort comes at a time when Yahoo is flexing its entertainment muscle in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. . Last month, the Sunnyvale-based Internet concern agreed to lease 250,000 square feet of space in Santa Monica's Colorado Center to consolidate its burgeoning entertainment business that will create original content, in the form of streaming media See streaming audio, streaming video and digital media hub. and recorded music recorded music n → música grabada . Yahoo also signed an exclusive deal with JibJab Media Inc., the creator of animated short political spoofs. In the music arena, last October Yahoo paid $120 million for San Diego-based MusicMatch, a direct competitor in the music download business to iTunes, Napster and RealNetworks Inc. At the time, MusicMatch boasted 225,000 subscribers for its monthly music-downloading service, each paying varying rates under different plans. The site also allows users to buy individual songs for 99 cents a piece, as iTunes does. Goldberg said MusicMatch's subscriber numbers have increased since its acquisition, but would not disclose by how much. Napster reported 270,000 paying subscribers at the end of 2004, and RealNetworks announced 700,000 subscribers to its Rhapsody (1) A subscription-based online music service from RealNetworks that gives users unlimited access to a vast library of major and independent label music. Within a single interface, Rhapsody provides access to streaming music, Internet radio and extensive music information and subscription music service for 2004. The MusicMatch service isn't part of the Yahoo!Music site yet. "We plan to integrate that more fully, we just haven't done it yet," Goldberg said. He called the rebranding part of step one in bringing MusicMatch into the Yahoo fold. Yahoo!Music currently offers a free Internet radio Listening to audio broadcasts via the Internet. There are more than 4,000 broadcasts available on the Internet that can be streamed and played by a software media player in the computer or in a stand-alone Internet radio with the software built in. service called Launchcast, plus a subscription service called Launchcastplus, which offers commercial-free radio and song-skipping capabilities. Goldberg declined to release subscription figures for the Yahoo!Music properties, instead citing the 25 million visitors per month to all of Yahoo's entertainment sites. "Yahoo could be the 800-pound gorilla gorilla, an ape, Gorilla gorilla, native to the lowland and mountain forests of western and central equatorial Africa. It is the largest of the apes, the males reaching a height of 5 to 6 ft (150–190 cm) with a 9-ft (144–cm) arm spread. in this space if they really choose to be," said Christopher Rowen row·en n. New England A second crop, as of hay, in a season. [Middle English rowein, from Anglo-Norman rewain, variant of Old French regain : re-, re- + , media technology analyst who covers Napster and RealNetworks for SunTrust Robinson Humphrey Capital Markets. "Up until now, they've been a very quiet service." The challenge will be converting visitors into paid users. "We've done very well in delivering free content to users. A lot of what we do is attract users to the free site and expect them to move into the paid site," Goldberg said. "We have a lot more users in the free version." A few months after its 2001 purchase of Launch, Yahoo laid off 50 Launch employees, or almost 30 percent of its work force. The current Launch operation will move across the street to Yahoo's new Colorado Center offices. For now, MusicMatch's staff--Goldberg didn't say how many there were--will remain in San Diego San Diego (săn dēā`gō), city (1990 pop. 1,110,549), seat of San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay; inc. 1850. San Diego includes the unincorporated communities of La Jolla and Spring Valley. Coronado is across the bay. and Orlando, Fla. Rowen said that for all the excitement in the music download sector, "it just doesn't seem to be a huge focus for them right now." He pointed out that Napster's revenue forecast for 2006 is about $212 million. "What is $200 million compared to Yahoo's $3.6 billion annual revenue?" Rowen said. "Online and subscription music could be a home run for Yahoo, but it could still be too small a market for them." Download To receive a file transmitted over a network. In any communications session, "download" means receive, and "upload" means send. The download/upload often implies a big/little scenario, in which data is being downloaded from the "big" server into the "little" user's computer. Wars Measuring business at some Internet music sites. RealNetworks' Rhapsody: 700,000 subscribers as of December 2004 Napster: 270,000 subscribers as of December 2004 Yahoo MusicMatch: 225,000 subscribers as of October 2004 Apple iTunes: 250 million song downloads as of January 2005 Sources: Listed companies listed company n → compañía cotizable listed company n → société cotée en Bourse listed company list n → . |
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