RealNetworks to spin off Rhapsody, give up control

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http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/02/02-11-10rhap.jpg (http://moconews.net/article/419-realnetworks-to-spin-off-rhapsody-will-reduce-stake-to-equal-viacom/)Seems like times are tough in the streaming music game -- Warner is making noise about dropping free streaming rights to its catalog (http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/11/warner-music-talks-trash-about-free-streaming-services-keeps-us/), and now RealNetworks and Viacom have announced plans to spin off the Rhapsody (http://www.engadget.com/tag/rhapsody) subscription service. The new company will obviously be known as Rhapsody, and both Real and Viacom will hold a sub-50 percent stake in the outfit and remain on the board of directors. Real's also contributing $18m in cash to the cause, while Viacom's committed to providing $33m in advertising -- we'll see if Rhapsody can make it on its own once that all runs out.RealNetworks to spin off Rhapsody, give up control (http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/11/realnetworks-to-spin-off-rhapsody-give-up-control/) originally appeared on Engadget (http://www.engadget.com) on Thu, 11 Feb 2010 16:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds (http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/).


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