Apple has finally confirmed on Sunday that several American media transaction to buy the music service Lala.com which was under way after several days of rumors. The amount and the exact purpose of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Lala.com, which opened in 2005, started its business by allowing users to scan the contents of their CDs, so you can access from their web browser. The start-up then broadened the spectrum of its activities by setting up a pay offer streaming music, then a download for kiosk, based on buying the act with songs encoded in MP3. Lala.com today offers a catalog of more than 8 million shares, from the four major and large independent labels.
Stationed in the United States, Lala.com has the potential to create playlists available in streaming. For each piece, the user must pay $ 0.10: it then has the opportunity to listen at will from the site. In a second time, he may choose to purchase the file, and therefore download, adding $ 0.79. The direct download is also offered at $ 0.89.
Little known in Europe, Lala.com is a part of its success to the relationships established with major social networks. On Facebook, American surfer who wants to offer a piece to one of his contacts will be invited for example to do so via Lala.
What interest’s for Apple? "Apple buys from time to time smaller companies in the technology field, and we generally do not comment on our plans" merely stated a spokesperson for the firm. Lala.com, which include Warner Music has one of its investors, who does not like iTunes, a broad base of users, but adopts a very different position from that of the Apple booth. It remains to see how the iTunes Store can enjoy this experience in streaming and broadcast via social networks.
- Advertisement -