Imeem, which was able to declare itself “the first and only social networking service to secure licenses from all four major music companies” about two years ago, now appears to be folding. Reports indicate that MySpace is set to acquire the business for a rather piddling amount.
Imeem was once a fairly successful organization. In addition to sealing the music company deals, it’d earned the backing of Sequoia Capital (which funded Apple, Yahoo, Google, and YouTube over the years), and was attracting around 25 million visitors per month.
Unfortunately for Imeem, though, Peter Kafka wrote last night, “[MySpace] is paying a fire sale price of $1 million, sources familiar with the situation tell me, and could pay up to $7 million to $9 million in earnouts for key employees, who will likely include CEO Dalton Caldwell.”
Otherwise, no one’s quite sure what will happen. MySpace might keep Imeem open – the site’s built something of a name for itself – or just use Imeem’s assets to further its own music-related efforts.
We’ll keep an eye out for additional information and/or an official announcement, then, and in the meantime, Imeem fans might want to at least think through their options.
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