The company confirmed that it may pursuing a sale. SNOCAP was considered as Fanninng’s effort to enter into the legal music download market, but the music companies were reluctant to work with him.
The only major success achieved by SNOCAP was considered its partnership with the social networking site MySpace, announced in September 2006.
Through the partnership, Snocap has become the provider of digital music retail tools for MySpace, marking the first music e-commerce deal for both companies. The SNOCAP services enabled artists and labels with registered content to set pricing, create stores, and sell their music in MP3 format.
In an interview given in October to CNET News.com, SNOCAP CEO Rusty Rueff confirmed that its time to sell the company and he said the layoffs were designed to help make the company more attractive to a buyer. And it seems like he found the buyer.
Launched in 2004, imeem is the fastest-growing social
networking Web site, according to comScore data. More than 50,000 new users in
the age 24 or younger join the site every day. It is the fourth most popular
multimedia entertainment site in the
For imeem this acquisition means access to a powerful content identification technology, a comprehensive Digital Registry, and an enhanced team of executive and engineering talent. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Imeem said it intends to expand the services and products it offers. “The SNOCAP team built a great technology platform that will be useful to imeem as we continue to grow,” said Dalton Caldwell, imeem’s founder and CEO. “Together we’ll build on that work in the coming months, and give labels and independent artists new ways to promote and sell their music through imeem, MySpace and anywhere on the web.”
imeem was already using SNOCAP technology to automatically identify tracks as they are uploaded by users, determine if the content owner has permitted full streaming of their music, and manage payments to artists and labels for use of their music on imeem.
As for MySpace stores, SNOCAP said it will continue to operate its products and services without changes to users’ accounts or services. Later this year, the company will make several enhancements to the SNOCAP MyStore.
imeem‘s move follows after in January this year the company bought Anywhere.FM, a San Francisco-based web music player and Internet radio service.