MP3.com to be shut down

Forum Moderators: open

Message Too Old, No Replies

MP3.com to be shut down

and domain name sold off!

Shak

12:37 pm on Jul 10, 2003 (gmt 0)

Cash strapped French media giant Vivendi Universal has closed the European arm of MP3.com, the online music site that it bought for Ł265m two years ago.

[media.guardian.co.uk...]
[silicon.com...]

and just when people thought things were going well in that industry, wonder how much they can get for the domain name.

my bet is on someone like the owners of Pressplay buying it for type-in traffic.

Shak

Mike12345

12:58 pm on Jul 10, 2003 (gmt 0)

Well spotted shak, Not putting in a bid yourself? :)

lazerzubb

1:17 pm on Jul 10, 2003 (gmt 0)

Nice find, quite a big blow i guess for a lot of artists, wonder who will buy it (apple?)

Founder walked away nicely though.
[fortune.com...]

Chndru

1:24 pm on Jul 10, 2003 (gmt 0)

The site, which was worth over Ł3bn at the height of the dotcom boom..

Funny ole days ;-)

PR 8 and #1 for mp3 though

[edited by: Chndru at 1:27 pm (utc) on July 10, 2003]

MrSpeed

1:26 pm on Jul 10, 2003 (gmt 0)

quite a big blow i guess for a lot of artists

I had read some articles a while back on how well some musicians were doing at mp3.com I specifically remember a piano player making over 80k/year. Not too shabby.

I think I was up to $.53 with my songs posted there. I was hoping to reinvest the money into more lessons ;)

Jon_King

1:41 pm on Jul 10, 2003 (gmt 0)

Such a sad song MrSpeed. Sounds Country to me! :)

korkus2000

1:47 pm on Jul 10, 2003 (gmt 0)

It really isn't a big suprise to the industry. Indie artists have loathed them for a while, but used the free service as a necissary evil. They really need more premium users, but the industry really just doesn't have any money. Hosting MP#s is expensive and we have watched many like mp3.com fall to the wayside because of the expense.

Plus the recording industry is making it even harder for these sites to survive. Sites like MP3 follow the rules and are doomed.

Iguana

1:59 pm on Jul 10, 2003 (gmt 0)

It's only the European arm that is closing in August - but I can't see anyone buying the US bit as a going concern. It was a great idea but in the end it was too difficult to wade through the rubbish - I can't remember discovering much decent music through them.

Obviously the exception is mye 2 songs that are brilliant and sometimes average 9 plays per month.

Receptional

5:25 pm on Jul 10, 2003 (gmt 0)

That's a pain - we do work for a company that shares mp3's London office... will that be a bad debt getting ready to smack me in the face? Still - at least I didn't get the MP3 SEO account.

Bad luck G...

Dixon.

brotherhood of LAN

8:22 pm on Jul 10, 2003 (gmt 0)

A BBC news story today mentions the state of play in music piracy, and that 1 in 3 CD's >purchased< are illegal copies - it got me wondering how many take it a step further and have realised music can be even cheaper online (free). I guess with MP3.com once being valued at Ł3bn other people have seen the trend :-)

I never used MP3.com, though it was one of those "cornerstones" at the height of its time. When they finally sort the piracy/artist/fat cat karma levels im sure the next MP3.com could be ehre to stay for much longer.

vincevincevince

10:46 pm on Jul 10, 2003 (gmt 0)

the next MP3.com

i think the point is that the next MP3.com is here in the for of p2p networks. they do what the users of MP3 want (free music easily), and they have a massive cat to boot...

AhmedF

4:28 am on Jul 11, 2003 (gmt 0)

I remember when "all your base" was big, the person who had mixed the music for the flash collection made quite a killing from MP3.com

sad to see it go down :(

JamesR

8:41 pm on Jul 11, 2003 (gmt 0)

Their quality overall has been horrible for awhile and the site bloated with ads. I was shocked when Vivendi paid that much for the site. Couldn't see how they would begin to make that money back.

Westmont

3:11 pm on Jul 13, 2003 (gmt 0)

Having been somewhat involved with mp3.com in the early days, I followed its progress and decline. To me, the most remarkable thing about it was its founder, Michael Robertson. IMO, he's a master marketeer who was able to cash out in spite of the dismal outlook for that industry. What I found more interesting was a recent article in Fortune about him and his new venture taking on Microsoft head to head with his Linux for the PC concept. He calls it Lindows. It's bundled in that $300 PC Walmart sells. He offers all of his Microsoft compatible software for a flat annual fee, and the license does not restrict usage to a single PC. He does have Softy's attention. Who knows if he can succeed, but I bet he'll be getting a lot of press in the future.

HughMungus

4:32 pm on Jul 14, 2003 (gmt 0)

How did MP3.com get it so wrong when Apple was able to make money on it (legally, even)?

HughMungus

4:33 pm on Jul 14, 2003 (gmt 0)

quite a big blow i guess for a lot of artists

And an opportunity for whoever picks up the slack...

HughMungus

4:36 pm on Jul 14, 2003 (gmt 0)

How is Lindows doing? When I first saw Lindows PC's being sold at WalMart, all I could think was, "Tech support nightmare".

"What do you mean I can't run ___________ on my PC?"

"Well, sir, it's not Windows, it's Lindows..."

"Huh?"

Shak

7:25 am on Aug 28, 2003 (gmt 0)

looks like it has finaly closed in Europe, taken from

[uk.mp3.com...]

MP3.com Europe regrets to inform you that we will no longer continue to offer localised sites in UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy and Netherlands. We hope you have enjoyed our service.

Shak