To: Dave Swanson who wrote (7415 ) 8/24/1999 8:17:00 AM From: bob Respond to of 18366
Tuesday August 24 4:14 AM ET Yahoo Launches Digital Music Web Site SANTA CLARA, Calif. (Reuters) - Yahoo! Inc. Monday unveiled its Yahoo! Digital site, a move that adds the huge Internet media company's voice to the chorus of companies that digitally distribute music over the Web. The site, at digital.yahoo.com , allows Web surfers to listen to music from popular recording artists, as well as purchase songs that can be transmitted via the Internet to a user's computer. Customers can also watch and listen to Internet broadcasts, like concerts and music video, view on-demand video channels and, in about one week, self-publish and sell their own music online, Yahoo said. Shares of Yahoo finished up 7-1/8 at 152-1/8 in brisk trade Monday amid a broad rally on Wall Street. Internet-music alliances have mushroomed this year, spawned by the rapid growth of the Web as a place to find, exchange and distribute music. Spurred by the recording industry's rush to develop secure means to sell products digitally and the promise that PC users would soon have high-speed Web access, companies like Lycos Inc. (Nasdaq:LCOS - news), Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT - news) and RealNetworks Inc. (Nasdaq:RNWK - news) are working to become leaders in the still-young online music market. Yahoo! Digital flexes the muscles of Web media programmer Broadcast.com, which Yahoo purchased in April for about $5 billion. The unit, now called Yahoo! Broadcast Services, was a pioneer in offering free broadcasts of everything from Presidential speeches to segments of television programs. Partners in the venture include Web music retailer Emusic.com Inc., software maker Liquid Audio Inc. (Nasdaq:LQID - news) and digital distribution technology company Beatnik Inc., which is privately held.