Microsoft, MongoMusic Marry

Microsoft Corp. Wednesday announced the acquisition of MongoMusic Inc., a digital music infrastructure company pushing a collaborative approach with record labels and artists, reportedly for an estimated $65 million in stock.

The Redwood City, Calif.-based company plans to relocate its 65 employees to the software giant’s homebase of Redmond, Wash., a company official was quoted in Forbes.com.

“MongoMusic’s expertise, technology and relationships will help further our goal of offering compelling digital music content through our existing sites such as MSN and WindowsMedia.com,” said Jeff Camp, general manager for the Personal Service and Devices Group at Microsoft. “This move underscores Microsoft’s commitment to providing consumers with constructive ways to get great music, while respecting the rights of artists.”

“We started MongoMusic with the vision of building the infrastructure that would unite and expand the music industry and make legitimate and profitable digital distribution a reality,” said Jeremy Hinman, founder and president of MongoMusic. “By joining the significant efforts already under way at MSN and WindowsMedia.com, this vision will become part of the most compelling media offering on the Web.”

MongoMusic’s suite of applications includes a patent pending digital locker solution and Sounds Like technology that uses music to find music. Its services include personalized radio, music discovery and a recommendation engine as well as a digital storage locker.