Tech Tuesday

Sarah Skates

The Clear Channel buyout is falling apart reports the Wall Street Journal. The private equity purchasers and the banks funding the $19 billion transaction are unable to agree on financing terms.

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Sony BMG Music Entertainment chief executive Rolf Schmidt-Holtz told a German newspaper that the company is developing an online music subscription service. The unlimited access program would be compatible with many digital devices. He did not elaborate on when the service would be unveiled, but said that there would probably be a flat rate fee of about $9 to $12 per month. He said some buyers might be able to own the songs “indefinitely…even after the subscription expired." In the interview, Schmidt-Holtz also alluded to talks with other major music distributors and mobile companies who might be onboard with the service.

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Yahoo, Google and MySpace are working together on a neutral, community-run forum for developing applications for social networks. The OpenSocial Foundation will be a non-profit entity.

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EMI is in talks with Nokia to participate in the company’s “Comes with Music” program, set to debut in the second half of 2008. It will offer unlimited access to millions of songs. Universal is already on board.

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Recent data from Yahoo shows that online users go to artists’ Wikipedia entries over MySpace pages more than 2-to-1. Wikipedia is also more popular than artists' Web sites.