BMG
is looking to consolidate and own music distribution
on the internet. After snatching up CDnow and acquiring a stake
in Napster, BMG is now looking to purchase Emusic.com and Liquid
Audio.
The chairman of the
Ecommerce group, Andreas Schmidt, is holding preliminary talks
with both groups, and is looking to form an alliance with the
companies. BMG is looking to form these alliances because of competition
from Universal, who are trying to launch their own version of
digital music delivery. Liquid Audio had revenues of $3.4 million,
and a loss of $8.9 million for the third quarter.
Liquid Audio just
signed Zomba Records Group to distribute their music via the net.
Zomba has such artists as E-40, Mystikal and Too Short. Emusic,
which bought up custom CD music maker, CDuctive for $38 million
a few years back, could use the alliance or purchase. The site
has been struggling from lack of sales, and is almost out of capital
to continue operating.
