Trusonic aquires MP3.com assets

elektro80 · Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2004 3:17 am Post subject: Trusonic aquires MP3.com assets

Will your music at mp3.com end up with Trusonic?? In supermarkets?

TruSonic, Inc. Acquires Assets Of Business Music Service From MP3.com, Inc.

TruSonic, Inc., a new enterprise formed to provide business music and messaging services, announced today that it has acquired the truSONIC brand and related assets from MP3.com, Inc. As part of the transaction, TruSonic, Inc. also acquired licenses to more than 1.5 million songs by high-quality Independent Artists for purposes of distribution to businesses. These assets uniquely position TruSonic as a provider that supports different music strategies by offering a wide variety of business-specific and progressive musical styles.

TruSonic, Inc. has musical content licenses from major record labels and publishers and background music licenses from the major performance rights organizations. The company intends to continue building on the vast body of musical content it is capable of distributing into business environments.

The truSONIC brand was launched in 2002 to provide digital music programming using a new delivery format. The system delivers music via the Internet to businesses, including offices, retailers, and restaurants, and offers the advantages of increased flexibility and lower costs. Unlike traditional systems using satellite or CDs, which can require days or weeks to update, the truSONIC system allows customers to insert and change advertising or other messages at any time from a central location.

Joseph Tebo will head the new company as CEO and president. Tebo has an extensive background in the retail industry and was formerly president of ampm International and Price Ventures. Daniel O'Neill will hold the position of chief technology officer (CTO) and executive vice president. O'Neill is the former CTO and vice president of engineering of MP3.com, Inc. and VUNet USA Technologies. While at MP3.com, Inc., O'Neill headed the technology team responsible for the development of the truSONIC technology platform.

"The truSONIC service was developed by industry veterans and technologists who saw the need and opportunity to create a better and more efficient way to deliver music and audio messaging to retailers," said Tebo. "Our goal is not to be the biggest, but to be the best provider of music services in the industry."

"truSONIC's web-based delivery system offers retailers unprecedented flexibility in controlling the music and messaging for an individual store or groups of stores," said Dan O'Neill, CTO. "Music schedules can be quickly modified to meet seasonal needs, advertising messages can be targeted, and each can vary by region, for example. We intend to continue to expand and improve the service to meet customer needs."

Current truSONIC subscribers include Petco Pet Supplies, Spencer Gifts, Comp USA, Champs Sports, O'Charley's Restaurants, Rubio's Baja Grill, Great Clips Hair Salons, AMC Theatres, Books-A-Million Booksellers, Affiliated Foods Midwest, IGA Grocery Stores, HealthMart Pharmacies, the Minneapolis-St Paul Airport and the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration among others.

http://www.mi2n.com/press.php3?press_nb=60964

Cyxeris · Joined: Oct 30, 2003 Posts: 1125 Location: Louisville, KY

elektro80 · Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2004 3:24 pm Post subject:

....and they have aquired assets... the music.. from independent musicians..

ok.. vomiting is a sensible reaction

seraph

Cyxeris · Joined: Oct 30, 2003 Posts: 1125 Location: Louisville, KY

"Music! It's just stuff! Stuff like linoleum or cement or paint or valet drivers! Businesses need that stuff, and we can make money off of them (not to mention the artists) by becoming a clearing house for this commodity! What a country!"

Pffffft... Artbrothels.

Cyx

elektro80 · Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2004 4:01 pm Post subject:

No wonder the evil doctors of capitalism are developing drugs in order to kill passion and love.

Reality reads like PKD and Stanislaw Lem.

paul e. · Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2004 4:02 pm Post subject:

so, what's the word regarding the tracks that were orginally up on mp3.com.. i assume these were part of the 'assets'..

will these artists from the old mp3.com still get paid i wonder

elektro80 · Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2004 4:08 pm Post subject:

If you clicked on the trusonic stuff in the initial agreement.. and did not uncheck those befor ethe site folded.. or is not reachable by email like a week or two after the site folded.. then your music will end up with Trusonic Inc. and you will probably have a hard time changing this.. and probably you will have probs proving the music is yours. I have not yet seen any sensible scheme from Trusonic as to how they plan to manage a scheme for paying the artists.

paul e. · Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2004 4:11 pm Post subject:

yikes... that kind of shady move is why i took my stuff off mp3.com in 1999... i knew this would happen...even then, i put in a small audio 'signature'

'this has been downloaded from suddenspace.com'

[using the mac speech software hehe]

so as to 'taint' it for this kind of [mis] use

Cyxeris · Joined: Oct 30, 2003 Posts: 1125 Location: Louisville, KY

I deleted all of my music the night I got the CNET announcement. I'm glad I did, although I believe I declined the TruSoniKKK option when I initially sent my music. That's good. I'd be most disappointed if I were to walk by an Old Navy in the mall only to hear For Starters or Becoming entertaining the partonsumers there.

Most disappointed indeed.

Cyx

elektro80 · Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2004 4:22 pm Post subject:

Frankly, in itself i would say that the Trusonic Inc businessplan is pretty OK. The only big problem I see here is that the company has aquired the music from MP3.com the way they have. but, i did receive an email from Trusonic.. and I did check my status and I did say no to being exploited by Trusonic. I would never agree on something like this without knowing all the small details, and they did not inform me of anything related to use and pay and whatnot. Another issue is that if I did not answer the email, they would have taken my silence as an agreement to let them use my stuff their way. This is very uncool. I can think of a thousand good reasons for people not recognizing that email and answering it. reason one is simply that it was constructed in a way which would have most spam filters killing it ASAP.

Cyxeris · Joined: Oct 30, 2003 Posts: 1125 Location: Louisville, KY

elektro80 · Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2004 4:53 pm Post subject:

Well.. they haven´t proved they can be trusted and the takeover of the music is just plain silly.. I mean.. the way they contacted the artists..

Cyxeris · Joined: Oct 30, 2003 Posts: 1125 Location: Louisville, KY

"But Mr. Dent, the plans have been available in the local planning office for the last nine months."

"On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them."

"That's the display department."

"With a flashlight."

"Ah, well, the lights had probably gone."

"So had the stairs."

"But look, you found the notice, didn't you?"

"Yes," said Arthur, "yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying 'Beware of the Leopard.'"

Cyx

elektro80 · Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2004 5:13 pm Post subject:

Yup, that is pretty much it. But he would of course leave out the fact that the leopard is carrying a Claymore mine ...and the floor of the room is full of plutonium dust... and yes.. the snakes... the snakes...

Michael Chocholak · Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2004 12:20 pm Post subject:

Unfortunately none of this is surprising. What I find confusing is that I thought all the Mp3.com music files were wiped. Destroyed. Eliminated. Gone, gone gone. The buzz was that nobody got them. Not CNET, not Primetones, not Archive.org. Not so apparently? Is someone still sitting on all those files somewhere? Did they just keep the files of those artists agreeing to the TruSonic option? Or have they still got all of them?

I mean we ARE talking files here, right? The licenses won't do much for them if they don't have the goods.

Cyxeris · Joined: Oct 30, 2003 Posts: 1125 Location: Louisville, KY

That is a good point.

Guest · Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2004 1:18 pm Post subject:

Well, if they're talking 1.5 mill songs that means they got them ALL. Not just the TruSonic tracks.

Here's a link to the mp3.com submission contract - in case you didn't keep a copy...

http://contracts.onecle.com/alpha/7270.shtml at the bottom of the page.

And this link starts with the same story but is followed by a fairly lively discussion http://www.gnutellanews.com/article/9776.

Now personally I suppose some of my guitar tracks might be at risk, but for the most part my reaction is the same as it was to Primetones offer. The thought of hearing Sound Houses or Owl Famine Windigo coming out of someone's cell phone was almost too bizarre to imagine. Shocked

The same goes for some uptight lady with her head stuck up a hair dryer. Or PetCo. Or the Maryland Department of Motor Vehicles. Hahahahaha! The surreal possibilities are endless. As well as hysterically ludicrous!

I've had my music appear in various science fiction novels, but in this reality... just too much!

Still, the issue here is, since we've obviously all stepped in bullshit, how deep is it? Up to our ankles? Our knees? Or should we all take a deep breath? Evil or Very Mad

Michael Chocholak · Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2004 1:20 pm Post subject:

BTW that last post is mine. I was logged in, but it shows me as a guest for some reason. Question

mosc · Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2004 2:38 pm Post subject:

Michael Chocholak · Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2004 6:02 pm Post subject:

Yeah, it seems like I have to log in twice in order for it to 'take'.

Anyway, found this link to TruSonic's optin/opt out page at another BBS http://rms.trusonic.com/trusonic-admin/login?class=OPTinout.

So you apparently still have an option to 'just say no.'

If you can trust anybody about anything as far as Mp3.com. Confused

mosc · Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2004 6:59 pm Post subject:

Thank you for posting that. I had some music on mp3.com that I neglected to remove, thinking it would just go away in safety. I checked into the to link you provided and unsubscribed pretty easilly.