Music-oriented social-networking site imeem announced Monday it is acquiring SNOCAP. SNOCAP is a digital-rights and content-management technology, and imeem is the third largest social network in the U.S. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Dalton Caldwell, imeem’s founder and CEO, called SNOCAP a great technology platform. He added that the acquisition will “give labels and independent artists new ways to promote and sell their music through imeem, MySpace” and other locations on the Web.
ID, Digital Registry
SNOCAP’s proprietary content-identification platform and digital registry was created in part to give unsigned and independent artists, as well as labels of various sizes, control over how their music is distributed online. Over the last year, imeem has been using the SNOCAP technology to identify music uploaded by users to determine if the content owner allows full streaming, and to manage payments for the use of the music on a particular site.
Artists and labels whose work is streamed on imeem, for instance, share in the site’s music-advertising revenue. There are more than 7 million songs currently in SNOCAP’s digital registry, and more than 110,000 unsigned and unaffiliated artists and labels sell their music through the SNOCAP MyStores. SNOCAP MyStores also sell the music of well-known performers, including The Rolling Stones, Coldplay and others.
In its announcement, imeem indicated that SNOCAP will continue to offer products and services to its current accounts. In addition to MySpace, SNOCAP offers services to the Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, TVT Records, Ryko Group, and others.
Looking for a Buyer
SNOCAP was started in 2002 by a group that included Shawn Fanning, the founder of Napster, and there had been reports that it was looking for a buyer.
Mike McGuire, an analyst with industry research firm Gartner, said that he wasn’t surprised at the sale, since “SNOCAP let…