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Mashboxx Legal File-Sharing Service Licenses EMI Catalog

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 28, 2006 - 12:55pm.
New York - Mashboxx, a legal peer-to-peer music file-sharing service, announced on Friday that major record label EMI has licensed its entire catalog for trading in the U.S. Sony BMG has also licensed its catalog to Mashboxx, which uses Napster founder Shawn Fanning's Snocap service to ensure only authorized tracks may be downloaded.
tags: Licensing | Downloads | P2P | Music | Commerce | Catalogs | File-Sharing | EMI | Snocap | Mashboxx |

WSJ: Legal File-Sharing Firm Mashboxx in Talks to Acquire Grokster

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 19, 2005 - 9:44am.
New York -- The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that Mashboxx, a major label-supported, legal file-sharing service, is currently in talks to acquire Grokster, one of the unauthorized peer-to-peer services found guilty of copyright infringement in a recent landmark Supreme Court ruling. The Journal did not report financial details of the transaction; however, it did say that Mashboxx may share in revenue generated by a legal version of Grokster with the company's owners -- who themselves are not readily identified. Mashboxx was founded by Wayne Rosso, who formerly served as president of Grokster while it was still a popular unauthorized file-sharing service. The legal Mashboxx service, which will feature songs cleared through Napster founder Shawn Fanning's new venture, Snocap, is scheduled to launch in the next several months.
tags: WSJ | Acquire | Grokster | Legal File-Sharing | Mashboxx |

Mashboxx Licenses Sony BMG Songs for Legal File-Sharing Service

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 5, 2005 - 5:08am.
Virginia Beach, Va. -- Mashboxx, an authorized peer-to-peer music file-sharing service being developed by the former head of Grokster, announced on Wednesday that it has licensed major label Sony BMG's songs for inclusion on the service. "Sony BMG has done the heretofore unthinkable: embrace file sharing," said Wayne Rosso, CEO of Mashboxx and former head of Grokster -- which lost its landmark Supreme Court copyright infringement case earlier this week. Mashboxx said that negotiations are currently under way with other labels to license songs for its service, which will place protected versions of their songs for sale on major existing file-sharing networks. Users will pay 99 cents per track, and will be able to listen to several full-track previews before purchasing a song. Mashboxx is using Napster founder Shawn Fanning's Snocap "acoustic fingerprinting" song ID service to ensure that only authorized tracks are made available. Snocap has already signed additional deals with Universal, EMI and Warner to include their songs in its authorized database. Virginia-based Mashboxx said it plans to soon begin beta testing of its legal peer-to-peer service.
tags: Music | Sony BMG | Legal File-Sharing | Mashboxx |

Mashboxx Licenses Sony BMG Songs for Legal File-Sharing Service

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 29, 2005 - 7:20am.
Virginia Beach, Va. -- Mashboxx, an authorized peer-to-peer music file-sharing service being developed by the former head of Grokster, announced on Wednesday that it has licensed major label Sony BMG's songs for inclusion on the service. "Sony BMG has done the heretofore unthinkable: embrace file sharing," said Wayne Rosso, CEO of Mashboxx and former head of Grokster -- which lost its landmark Supreme Court copyright infringement case earlier this week. Mashboxx said that negotiations are currently under way with other labels to license songs for its service, which will place protected versions of their songs for sale on major existing file-sharing networks. Users will pay 99 cents per track, and will be able to listen to several full-track previews before purchasing a song. Mashboxx is using Napster founder Shawn Fanning's Snocap "acoustic fingerprinting" song ID service to ensure that only authorized tracks are made available. Snocap has already signed additional deals with Universal, EMI and Warner to include their songs in its authorized database. Virginia-based Mashboxx said it plans to soon begin beta testing of its legal peer-to-peer service.
tags: Law | Sony BMG | File-Sharing | Musics | Mashboxx |

L.A. Times: Sony BMG, Grokster Partner on Mashboxx Song Download Service

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 29, 2004 - 4:25am.
Los Angeles -- The Los Angeles Times reported on Friday that, in a major departure from the industry's legal campaign against peer-to-peer file-sharing technology, major record label Sony BMG is cooperating with Grokster -- a file-sharing company it also sued for copyright infringement -- on a new venture called Mashboxx that will offer its songs as paid downloads. Mashboxx is being headed by former Grokster president Wayne Rosso, who resigned last year to head Spanish P2P firm Blubster. While it's unclear if Mashboxx will be a true peer-to-peer service, people familiar with the venture told The Times that it would likely only offers users who search for a Sony BMG track the ability to download an authorized version of the song, such as a free low-quality version that included an offer to buy the CD-quality version. The service will also likely use technology developed by Snocap, a start-up founded by Napster founder Shawn Fanning. The Times reported that impetus for the Mashboxx project came from Sony BMG CEO Andrew Lack, who has urged other labels to support the venture.
tags: Music | Sony BMG | Download | Deal | Grokster | L.A. Times | Mashboxx |