Clear Channel Acquires Thumbplay Music
Mar 2, 2011 11:27 AM, By Mark Krieger
Radio giant Clear Channel says it has acquired a cloud-based music service from mobile entertainment provider Thumbplay for an undisclosed sum. A company press release describes the move as a “key element of aggressive digital strategy to capitalize on Clear Channel’s powerful national and local platforms.”
The acquisition will involve taking on the Thumplay Music venture, which launched in January 2010 as a cloud-based, streaming music service for smartphones and PC/Mac platforms with more than 8 million songs under license. The parent company, headquartered in New York City and founded in September 2004 as a mobile content provider says it plans to continue its lucrative ringtone distribution enterprise.
Clear Channel says it intends to leverage the music service and its technology, product and marketing teams to expand its popular iHeartRadio mobile application, expanding the platform to include subscription music services.
A Wall Street Journal story on the acquisition described Thumbplay Music’s business as “struggling” and noted that the venture’s financial backers did not expect to fully recover their estimated $41 million investment from the sale.
