Tag Archives: iMeem

It’s starting to feel a bit like watching a car crash happen in front of you. You know you should look away and yet you can’t. You’re feelings of “glad it’s not me” are tinged with a fear of “hope I’m not next”. Here’s a round-up of music industry layoffs so far this quarter…

Viacom let 850 go worldwide including about 300 at MTV

The Real/MTV Rhapsody America partnership is cutting 25 jobs and closing its NYC office. UPDATE: Real confirms the layoffs but denies that it is completely shutting down the NYC office. (ALD)

RealNetworks itself is laying off 130 people or 7% of its staff.

The Hollywood Reporter has let go of 17 and Variety has closed its DC bureau with more cuts expected.

UK’s Pinnacle falling into insolvency means that almost 100 lost their jobs. More fallout is expected as indie labels distributed by Pinnacle suffer from lack of payments.

Last week music blog network Buzznet let go of at least 10 of its 85 staffers.

Earlier Pandora let go of 20 of its 140 employees or 14%

imeem has cut 25% of staff and is actively looking for a buyer.

This is already ‘old’ news (2 weeks) but worth a mention.

Leading Social Music Service Will Bring Together Bands and Fans of Legendary Labels

iMeem, the leading social music service, today announced a worldwide licensing and marketing partnership with Beggars Group and Matador Records, two of the world’s most respected independent music label groups.

Through the partnership, Beggars Group entire digital music and video catalog will be available for free streaming on imeem. The companies will collaborate on ways for imeem users to discover new music from the label rosters, including artist-based sponsorships and marketing and promotion initiatives. Beggars Group and Matador will also feature imeem’s embeddable music and video playlists across its artists’ web sites.

“From the start, Beggars and Matador have been dedicated to finding great music and bringing it to fans around the world,” said Martin Mills, founder and Chairman of Beggars Group. “imeem gives us new ways to connect our talented artists with millions of potential fans through word of mouth and social connections, and gives those fans new ways to express themselves using our artists’ music and video. We’re excited to be working with imeem.”

“Beggars have nurtured some of the most creative and innovative indie artists of the past 30 years, and we’re excited to make those artists’ music available to the imeem community,” said Steve Jang, chief marketing officer and head of business development for imeem. “We’re looking forward to working with such a legendary international label group to create a richer social music experience for our community.”

The Beggars Group is comprised of a number of the world’s leading independent labels, including Matador, 4AD, Beggars Banquet, Rough Trade, XL Recordings, Too Pure, Abeano, Merok, Salvia, and Young Turks. Its wide-ranging catalogue includes music from Bauhaus, Beirut, Blonde Redhead, Bon Iver, The Breeders, British Sea Power, Cat Power, Cocteau Twins, The Cult, Dead Can Dance, Deerhunter, Devendra Banhart, Dizzee Rascal, Electrelane, The Fall, Future of the Left, The Go-Betweens, Neil Halstead, P.J. Harvey, Jay Reatard, Love And Rockets, Mission of Burma, Mogwai, Mojave 3, Peter Murphy, The National, Jack Penate, The Pixies, Sigur Ros, Stereolab, TV on the Radio, and Vampire Weekend, among others.

(Reuters) – Social networking site Facebook’s founder and Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg plans to enter the digital-music business in the wake of the launch of News Corp’s MySpace Music last month, the New York Post said.

Zuckerberg is talking to a number of song-streaming services and music community sites, including Rhapsody.com, iMeem.com, iLike.com and Lala.com about an outsourcing deal, the Post reported, citing sources familiar with the situation.

Facebook executives have been busy meeting major record companies about the strategy, the paper said on its website.

The Post quoted sources saying that unlike MySpace, which traded equity in its music venture in exchange for licenses to stream ad- supported songs, Facebook doesn’t want to secure licenses to distribute music, or build a proprietary service from scratch.

Sources further cautioned that nothing was imminent, and Facebook may ultimately walk away from the plan altogether, the paper reported.

Facebook did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved