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Missing Beat Music acquires MyBandsMusic.com

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Missing Beat Music has acquired the website MyBandsMusic.com, an on-line music distribution and social networking site for independent musicians and their fans.

MyBandsMusic is an on-line store and meeting place built for the independent artist. The site allows new artists to launch a profile and bio page, including paid and free music downloads or sales of their CDs. Also, the fans can create their own profile and provide feedback to the artists on the site. Thousands of new downloads are available to the fan interested in the newest music across every genre.

Missing Beat Music helps independent artists get to market in an era without attractive major label support. Missing Beat specializes in leveraging the Internet as a promotional tool to create markets for their artist’s music. Missing Beat owns a growing number of Internet companies that support their vision connecting fans with the newest artists and their music.

Originally posted on February 27, 2008 @ 10:27 am

Getty Images bought for $2.1 billion

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Getty Images agreed to be bought by a private equity firm for $2.1 billion. Getty said it would revert to private ownership after the completion of the deal

The photo giant’s stock price has dropped sharply in recent years as dramatic shifts in the media environment eroded the company’s traditional market and made its shares less attractive to investors, according to the report.

Originally posted on February 27, 2008 @ 6:00 am

Internet Brands acquires nine websites

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ibrands.pngInternet Brands, Inc. announced the acquisition of nine websites in the company’s automotive and leisure categories. The acquisitions include eight online auto enthusiast communities and a leading site for dog owners and lovers.

The newly acquired sites contributed to increasing the company’s monthly unique visitors to 29.1 million and monthly page views to 435 million in January 2008. This compares to 26.8 million unique visitors and 343 million page views in December of 2007.

The eight automotive sites will be integrated into the Internet Brands automotive category, consisting of more than 35 community-based auto enthusiast sites that span most major makes and models. The company believes it owns and operates the largest group of automotive enthusiast sites on the Internet, having attracted more than 20 million visitors in January 2008. The company’s sites include AudiWorld.com, ClubLexus.com, CorvetteForum.com, Ford-Trucks.com, MBWorld.org, MustangForums.com, and ScionLife.com.

The newly acquired automotive websites are: 6SpeedOnline.com, Rennlist.com, G35Driver.com, MyG37.com, My350z.com, ZDriver.com, NorthAmericanMotoring.com, and ScoobyNet.com.

Internet Brands has also acquired PuppyDogWeb.com, one of the largest content providers for dog lovers and includes listings from thousands of private dog breeders across the United States.

Originally posted on February 21, 2008 @ 2:00 pm

Microsoft to unleash hell against Yahoo

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microhooTrue to the form of a desperate suitor, Microsoft is not taking “NO” for an answer. According to the ever mysterious people familiar with this controversy, the software giant has tapped a proxy solicitation group to overthrow Yahoo’s 10-member board.

Clock is ticking for Jerry Yang’s empire with this intimidating hostile takeover. Though analysts speculate Microsoft will up its bid, the cost of proxy battle is relatively cheaper – $20 to $30 million vs. $1.4 billion for every dollar increase in the original bid of $31 per share.

If we use Bill Gate’s confirmation that its bid is full and fair, it seems this proxy battle is the only alternative left. Rumors say it will happen anytime this week. In spite of everything, this might just be a scare tactic to force Yahoo to say “YES” since communication lines between parties are still open.

On Yahoo’s side, Jerry Yang has prepared a new severance package for its executives and full-time employees in the event the hostile takeover will materialize.

Can Yahoo still turn the tables on this one? With no alternative bidder and weak partnership agreements with other players, the hostile takeover seems inevitable. Sit tight and grab your beer for the drama will end soon.

Originally posted on February 21, 2008 @ 1:46 am

Burned Media Ltd. acquires Lyricing.com

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Burned Media Ltd. has announced its acquisition of Lyricing.com, an established domain with traffic from North American visitors searching for artist and album lyrics. The company migrated the domain property to its platform in the past 3 weeks and has re-launched the site with a new and improved music lyrics application. This functionality will tie into its existing Burned Music platform and Hypster.com music discovery property.

Over the coming months the development team will continue to work to build the traffic of the site, improve it’s search engine ranking and implement various advertising and affiliate programs.

Originally posted on February 20, 2008 @ 2:57 pm