Petteri Pyyny
30 May 2001 0:45
Bertelsmann is set to announce today that it will purchase online music "locker" service MyPlay, sources familiar with the deal have told to Financial Times.
MyPlay operates a locker service similiar to My.MP3.com but it doesn't have licenses from major record labels to speed up the service so users wouldn't have to upload their music physically (unlike MP3.com who got this kind of licenses from major record labels after its court battle with them). Users can upload music they own to company's servers, create playlists and listen streamed music from their locker over the Internet wherever they are.
Yahoo was told to be considering to acquire MyPlay in last year for $200M but deal never happened. Now its reported that Bertlesmann will purchase MyPlay for appx. $30M. MyPlay laid off 41% of its work force in February 2001 in order to cut its losses and to focus more on business-2-business services.
Bertelsmann, German-based media giant who owns BMG, one of the "Big Five" record labels has also acquired stake of Napster and it's very likely that company will try to merge its separate online assets into one huge music service. Bertelsmann also operates online retail sites like CDNow.