MP3.com

CNET: Interview with MP3.com Founder Michael Robertson

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 26, 2009 - 1:25pm.

San Francisco - CNET News.com on Wednesday posted an interview with digital music industry veteran Michael Robertson, founder of the original MP3.com and currently head of MP3Tunes.com, a music locker service that has been sued by major label EMI. Robertson predicts that Apple's iTunes Store will be usurped as the dominant music retailer, and that ad-supported music streaming services will fail.

tags: Music | MP3tunes | Michael Robertson | MP3.com |

EMI Loses Case Against Robertson; MP3tunes Suit Goes to Trial

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 2, 2008 - 7:17am.

San Diego - A federal judge has dismissed a copyright infringement lawsuit brought by major label EMI against Michael Robertson, founder of MP3.com and current head of digital music locker firm MP3tunes, but allowed the label's lawsuit against MP3tunes to proceed to trial. "Suing CEOs personally is a nasty tactic media companies are engaging in to intimidate individuals, forcing them to either enter into a settlement or face the possibility of losing their homes, cars, and all their personal belongings," said Robertson.

MP3.com Founder Michael Robertson to Launch New Music Venture

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 2, 2005 - 3:42am.

San Diego -- Michael Robertson, the founder and former CEO of MP3.com -- which posted over a million tracks from independent artists online -- announced on Wednesday plans to launch a new digital music service that will focus on interoperability and consumer choice. The new venture, MP3tunes, will offer a hardware device, software products and an online music store available in coming months. "When I started MP3.com, the term 'MP3' was an obscure acronym recognizable only by geeks," said Robertson. "Today, certain market forces are trying to drive consumers away from MP3 towards proprietary systems, which lock out some consumers and force everyone to buy a particular company's player or software program. I wanted consumers to have more options, so I felt compelled to reenter the music space to bring the limelight back to MP3." Robertson said MP3tunes' first product will be an online music store featuring high-quality downloads in MP3 format, free from any digital rights management protections. Since selling MP3.com to Vivendi Universal in 2001 for $372 million, Robertson has founded companies that offer a Linux operating system and VoIP services.

CNET Re-Launches MP3.com As Digital Music Information Resource

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on May 10, 2004 - 2:28am.

San Francisco -- CNET Networks, a publisher of technology news and information, announced on Monday the re-launch of MP3.com, a site that once housed millions of MP3s from unsigned artists but will now serve as a digital music discovery and content resource. The site will offer a directory of legal digital music downloads and streams across the major services, including 30-second clips of millions of songs; an archive of artist and album information; a "music discovery engine"; and a technology guide covering the different available services, portable players and software. "Consumers have never before had such an easy, intuitive way to navigate the rich, diverse world of legal music content, technologies, and services," said Vince Broady, senior vice president of CNET Networks' games and entertainment business. The new MP3.com also plans to add community and personalization features later this year.

Napster Hires Former MP3.com Exec. to Head European Expansion

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 16, 2004 - 3:13am.

Santa Clara, Caif. -- Napster, a unit of CD burning software provider Roxio that sells music downloads on the Internet, has hired a former vice president of sales and marketing at MP3.com to head a new European operation, CNET News.com reported on Friday. Leanne Sharman was hired to create partnerships with European firms in response to what the company called "tremendous demand" for Napster in Europe.

tags: Napster | MP3.com | European Expansion |

TruSonic Acquires MP3.com's Digital Music Service for Businesses

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 6, 2004 - 4:10am.

San Diego -- TruSonic, a new company formed to distribute digital music programming to businesses, announced on Tuesday that it has acquired the truSONIC brand and related assets from MP3.com, including licenses to MP3.com's library of 1.5 million songs from independent artists. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Former MP3.com chief technology officer Daniel O'Neill, who led the development of the truSONIC service, will serve as CTO of TruSonic, Inc., while Joseph Tebo was named president and CEO. Current customers for the service, which delivers digital music to retail stores over the Internet and allows control via a Web-based interface, include AMC Theaters, Petco Pet Supplies, Spencer Gifts and Comp USA.

tags: Digital | Music Service | MP3.com | TruSonic |

Technology Publisher CNET Networks to Acquire Vivendi's MP3.com

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 17, 2003 - 7:32am.

San Francisco -- CNET Networks, a San Francisco-based publisher of online technology news, said on Friday that it will acquire MP3.com, a San Diego-based Internet music portal, from Vivendi Universal's U.S. Internet unit for an undisclosed price. The deal is expected to close next month. MP3.com, which features streaming and downloadable music from more than 250,000 artists and over 750,000 songs, had a market cap as high as $7 billion in 1999, but has struggled to recover from several lawsuits filed against it for illegal downloading. The company was acquired by Vivendi for $372 million two years ago. CNET Networks operates such technology-oriented sites as News.com, ZDNet, Download.com, GameSpot and mySimon.com. A company representative told reporters for News.com that said the version of MP3.com will not compete with music download services like iTunes and Napster, but instead serve as a source of information for digital music. In fact, all of the music currently available on MP3.com will be deleted, and artists were notified that tapes and other source materials submitted for inclusion will be destroyed.

tags: Website | Vivendi | CNET Networks | MP3.com |