MP3.com Inc. late Thursday night acquired a majority position in
mp3radio.com from its joint venture partner, Cox Interactive Media (CIMedia).
Financial details were not disclosed.
Cox Radio will maintain its 28 mp3radio.com affiliate sites and Cox
Interactive Media also expects to offer localized music information and free
music downloads across its network of city sites.
Affiliate stations will have access to MP3.com’s (MPPP) event and community
calendar, one-hour syndicated radio programming featuring the “Best of
MP3.com”, and the My.MP3.com service that allows listeners to store, manage,
and listen to their existing music collection via the stations’ Web site.
“As we began to work more closely with over-the-air radio stations to help
promote the artists posted on our web site, both CIMedia and MP3.com realized
that we were duplicating some of mp3radio.com’s efforts on a number of
fronts,” said Michael Robertson, chairman and chief executive officer of
MP3.com.
“To more effectively leverage our resources, both companies felt
that by bringing mp3radio’s operations under MP3.com we could offer a
coordinated suite of products and services to the over-the-air radio market.”