San Francisco - Imeem, a music-focused social network that claims 24 million unique monthly visitors, announced on Monday that it has acquired Snocap, the digital music registry and rights clearinghouse service co-founded by Napster creator Shawn Fanning, for an undisclosed sum. San Francisco-based Snocap's digital registry currently counts over 7 million songs, and over 110,000 unsigned and label-based artists are using Snocap MyStores to sell their music on MySpace and other sites.

DMW’s CEO & Publisher provides a wrap-up of the top stories of the week. Who’s hot, who’s not and what’s the industry buzz?

The week started with a bang on news that Yahoo Inc’s (NSDQ: YHOO) board rejected Microsoft Corp.’s (NSDQ: MSFT) unsolicited $44.6 billion offer for the company.

San Francisco - Music-focused social network Imeem has acquired Snocap, the digital music licensing company founded by Napster creator Shawn Fanning, according to TechCrunch, which added that the purchase price will likely not be disclosed.

San Francisco - Snocap, the digital music licensing and distribution service launched by Napster creator Shawn Fanning, on Tuesday announced the launch of a public beta test for a new, collaborative online mixtape service called BoomShuffle. The free service lets users create up to 15-song online mixes from Snocap's registry of more than 6 million tracks, and invite friends to collaborate by adding their own songs to the mix. The company will offer a BoomShuffle widget that can be posted on social network profiles, blogs and other websites.

San Francisco - Snocap, the digital music licensing company started by Napster founder Shawn Fanning, has laid off 60% of its staff, and is pursuing talks with several interested suitors, CNET News.com reported.

San Francisco - Snocap, a provider of digital music licensing and management services, said on Tuesday that it will alter its relationship with Internet CD retailer CD Baby, through which artists using CD Baby could distribute their music via a Snocap widget on their MySpace profiles. CD Baby's nearly 200,000 artists will now have to set up a direct account with Snocap in order to maintain the feature. Snocap is waiving the usual $30 annual fee for artists that sign up before Oct. 11.

New York - ReverbNation.com, a provider of online music marketing tools for artists, said on Wednesday that it has partnered with digital music registry Snocap on a ten-city tour that will feature artists selected through a submission process handled by the two companies. A&R representatives from Bad Boy Entertainment, Rawkus Records, UnAuthorized/Asylum and Imperial Records will help select 10-12 artists from each tour city to perform as part of the ReverbNation "New Blood" Urban Showcase Series.

London - Major record label EMI Music said on Friday that it has partnered with Snocap to allow for the sale of DRM-free MP3 tracks from EMI artists through artist websites, social networking pages and fan blogs. Songs will be made available for $1.30 from Snocap MyStores -- which are supported on the MySpace social network -- with albums to be added later this year.

San Francisco - Online social network imeem, which claims 16 million users, announced on Wednesday the launch of an ad-supported interactive music service. The company partnered with Snocap on the service, which offers streaming of over 3 million tracks that have been authorized by the artists, who will receive a cut of the revenue from ads appearing within the service.

San Mateo, Calif. - RockYou, a developer and distributor of Web widgets, announced that it has partnered with online music firms Snocap, Fliptrack, Pump Audio and Nettwerk Records. San Mateo, Calif.-based RockYou said that it now serves over 360 million free music plays each month on existing widgets, such as Web photo slideshows added to social networks and blogs. The deals will allow users of RockYou widgets to include select tracks controlled by Snocap, Fliptrack, Pump Audio and Nettwerk as background music for slideshows and other widgets. RockYou will also allow for the creation of Snocap MyStores on its site, so users can instantly purchase songs.

San Francisco - Slide, an online personal media network that lets users create photo slideshows, announced on Tuesday that it has added the ability for users to add music to their slideshows, through deals with Snocap, Bebo Bands, Nettwerk, Pump Audio and Bradstreet Entertainment. Once users create a slideshow on Slide, it can be embedded on blogs or social networks like MySpace, Facebook and Bebo.

San Francisco - Snocap, the provider of a digital music registry and online music retail technology, announced on Monday that major record label Warner Music Group will use its services to offer its artists' songs for sale through the MySpace social network.

Portland, Ore. - CD Baby, an online retailer of CDs from independent musicians, announced on Tuesday an agreement with Snocap, the digital music registry and e-commerce services provider. Under the deal, the more than 130,000 artists using Portland, Ore.-based CD Baby to sell their CDs will be able to create Snocap MyStores and sell their music online in digital format from sites like MySpace and ReverbNation.com.

Hudson Valley, N.Y. - Pump Audio, a provider of licensed independent music for use in commercial productions, said on Monday that it has partnered with Snocap, which operates a digital music registry and powers download stores for artists on sites like MySpace. Under the deal, Snocap will promote the Pump Audio service to artists who register their songs with Snocap. New York-based Pump Audio has supplied music for clients including CBS, the BBC, MTV, NBC and Comedy Central.

New York - Snocap, the provider of a digital music registry and direct online distribution services, announced on Thursday that it has signed deals to power online stores for independent record labels Sup Pop, New Line and Dangerbird, via the labels' U.S. distributor, the Alternative Distribution Alliance.

San Francisco - Online social network Imeem announced on Thursday that it has partnered with Snocap, the digital music registry and content identification firm, to provide content identification services, and allow record labels and artists to promote themselves and earn ad revenue from songs they stream on Imeem.

Cannes, France - A consortium of the world's independent record labels have joined to form Merlin, a new licensing agency that will release music from the labels that represent 30% of the world's music market to digital services.

San Francisco - Snocap, the digital content registration and distribution service founded by Napster creator Shawn Fanning, announced on Wednesday that it has partnered with music-focused online social network ReverbNation.com, to enable users to sell digital song downloads on the site. Under the deal, Snocap will handle consumer transactions and royalty payments for songs sold on ReverbNation.com pages through the site's DistroNow module. San Francisco-based Snocap also enables artists to sell songs through their profile pages on MySpace.