RealNetworks to spin off Rhapsody, give up control
By Nilay Patel 
posted February 11th 2010 4:38PM
posted February 11th 2010 4:38PM
Seems like times are tough in the streaming music game -- Warner is making noise about dropping free streaming rights to its catalog, and now RealNetworks and Viacom have announced plans to spin off the 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.
Hang on. Isn't Rhapsody the only thing left that makes money for Real?
@StalkyTheFish Have to agree, if Rhapsody gets spun off, then I'm not sure how Real stays in business. They'd be better off shuttering any other divisions they might still have, and just rename the company Rhapsody.
@StalkyTheFish
I loved the Real Jukebox back in it's infancy. I even paid for the full version. Then MusicMatch came by and made the "UnReal Deal" to those who had paid for the Real Jukebox to come over to the full version of MusicMatch at a huge discount. So I made the leap over to MusicMatch and loved it.
MusicMatch is by far the best audio jukebox I've ever used. I have yet to find another music player that comes close to MusicMatch's abilities when it came to tagging and organizing your music files.
But then Yahoo had to come along and buy MusicMatch and discontinue its development...great for those who made money, crappy for music fans. Yahoo tried to roll former MusicMatch users into their overpriced music subscription service and failed big time. Within about a year their own service dried up too.
Somehow after an overwhelming amount of online music success...not...Yahoo got involved with Rhapsody. Frankly I'm surprised Rhapsody has lasted this long. Yahoo has anything but the Midas touch.
@DaveBach I agree 100% with your statement about MusicMatch. It is still the best audio jukebox I've ever used, hands down. Yahoo Music was a joke compared to MusicMatch, and even now, the Rhapsody client is clutzy in comparison.
One thing I've gotten from being an original MusicMatch subscriber is an ongoing set of discounted annual subscriptions to the Yahoo and now Rhapsody services. I'm paying $59.88/year for Rhapsody (not the "To Go" version) which is in my sweetspot for a tethered listening service. Much more than that and it isn't worth it to me.
@ano2k2
Why pay for and use Rhapsody at all when there are legit free services like Groovetshark?
@ano2k2
Sorry, it's actually grooveshark.
Other than Rhapsody, what does RealNetworks do anymore? It seems like there spinning off there only business but maybe I'm missing something.
@gol706 They publish games for RealArcade and the iPhone.
Drats, you had to put "control" on the end of that sentence, didn't you? It would have been much better without. Grrrrr...
If RealNetworks spins off Rhapsody then what would've become of RealNetworks? There's little of it left. Perhaps, they will change the name to FakeNetworks?!
Good job keeping up with your sister blogs.
http://www.downloadsquad.com/2010/02/10/real-networks-spins-off-rhapsody-music-service/
Meh, real always sucked anyway. I could care less if they tank out.
Real Networks bankruptcy in 1... 2....3..... ok end of 2010...
Real has their own thing going on some Muzac kind of thing I think. Rhapsody is all that matters. Their library is bigger than Napster and if they are willing to stream or play lossless I have $50 a month for them. Better than cable TV.
Oh RealNetworks, just die. You were cool at the beginning of the web because you were the only thing out there, but you spoiled it all with your ads and bloat and poppycock. RIP Real!
Hopefuly with Rhapsody on their own now they can get rid of their horrible Helix DRM and migrate to something a bit more multi-platform friendly, or at the very least coax the makers of Helix DRM to get with the diversity program. I needz some subscription music on my Mac to make the hurtin' stop.
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