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MTV & RealNetworks Want More Autonomy For Rhapsody

November 24, 2009 10:26 p.m. by Sarah Dupuis

My dad’s been preaching the benefits of Rhapsody Music for the past few years, which was always a tip off to me that the service was somewhat less than cutting-edge. It’s an example of the Wilco Effect, i.e. once a dad likes something, it is totally lame. Launched in 2001 by RealNetworks as a restricted use music downloading service, Rhapsody has since lost business to cheaper and more comprehensive p2p competitors like Napster.  MTV took over almost half of Rhapsody just two years ago when they invested $230 million in its expansion, but now both MTV and RealNetworks are trying to give the unprofitable company more autonomy by reducing their ownership to less than 50%. According to RealNetworks’ SEC filings, they want to "enable Rhapsody to operate more independently of either party." Independence? Sounds more like a lead-in to an open relationship: “Rhapsody, honey, baby, I love you, but I think we should sleep with other people.” [HypeBot]

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