Rhapsody Acquires Music Discovery Platform Ex.fm
UPDATE 2: Rhapsody Also Acquires Schematic Labs, SoundTracking Music App
Rhapsody has confirmed the Ex.fm aqusition and issued a statement. Read it after the jump.
Music discovery platform Ex.fm, which shut down early this year, has been acquired by Rhasody. Details of the deal were not disclosed. "By teaming up, we can build the ultimate music service with an amazing social discovery engine backed by Rhapsody's catalog of over 30 million songs," the founders wrote on the site. "The idea of combining the best of Exfm with the best of Rhapsody has us all extremely excited!"
GigaOm speculates that the Rhapsody deal is an acquire/hire. But given that Ex.fm investors had sunk $2.75 million into building a music discovery platform, I'm betting that there's also technology involved in the deal. The founders hinted at that, as well:
"We've got some pretty amazing plans for iPhone, Android, Windows Phone and the Web. We may have been doing this for a while, but we feel like we are just getting started."
As with many other failed music tech startups, Exfm's founders had blamed the music industry. "The technical challenges are compounded by the litigious nature of the music industry," the NYC based startup said in a statement, "which means every time we have any meaningful growth, it’s coupled with the immediate attention of the record labels in the form of takedowns and legal emails." Stay tuned to learn how a relatioshship with Rhapsody changes that.
Rhapsody has issued this statement:
