“Gracenote is a global leader in technology and services for digital media identification, enrichment, and recommendation, and these capabilities will be essential to the next wave of innovation in content, services, and consumer electronics,” said Tim Schaaff, SCA Senior Vice President, Software, in the press release. “Sony sees tremendous growth potential in developing Gracenote as a separately run business unit, and by broadly embracing Gracenote’s platforms, Sony expects to significantly enhance and accelerate its own digital content, service, and device initiatives.”
“We are very pleased to join Sony as its strategic vision is very much in line with our own,” said Craig Palmer, Gracenote CEO, in the press release. “Having a closer connection with the content and digital services community will accelerate adoption of Gracenote technologies, and the relationship will also give us the resources necessary to rapidly expand development of next generation products for the industry.”
Gracenote’s existing business will continue to operate separately. As a wholly owned Sony subsidiary, Gracenote will continue to develop new technologies in existing as well as new areas of operation. The senior management team will remain with the company.
Sony and Gracenote anticipate that the transaction will close in late May, subject to certain regulatory and other approvals.
Gracenote is a global leader in embedded technology, enriched content, and data services for digital entertainment solutions within the Internet, consumer electronics, mobile, and automotive markets. Formerly known as CDDB, Gracenote delivers a substantially improved consumer experience in digital media devices and applications, plus media monitoring and other data services to the recording industry, making it an integral part of the digital media economy. Gracenote powers leading services including Apple iTunes, Yahoo! Music Jukebox, Winamp; home and automotive products from Alpine, Panasonic, Philips and Sony; and mobile music applications from Samsung, Sony Ericsson, KDDI (Japan), KTF (Korea), Musiwave (Europe), and others. Gracenote is headquartered in Emeryville, California.
Sony Corporation of America, based in New York, NY, is a U.S. subsidiary of Sony Corporation, headquartered in Tokyo. Sony is a leading manufacturer of audio, video, communications, and information technology products for the consumer and professional markets. Its motion picture, television, computer entertainment, music and online businesses make Sony one of the most comprehensive entertainment companies in the world. Sony’s principal U.S. businesses include Sony Electronics Inc., Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc., Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc., and a 50% interest in Sony BMG Music Entertainment, one of the largest recorded music companies in the world. Sony recorded consolidated annual sales of approximately $70.3 billion for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2007, and it employs 163,000 people worldwide. Sony’s consolidated sales in the U.S. for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2007 were $18.9 billion.
Source: Sony Corporation of America
@Jim,
I like your idea better.
I like your idea better.
“If you think Sony isn’t going to use this technology to cripple iTunes then you are VERY nieve”
Jeez, it would be nice to find some “three-figure intelligence” here at MDN, to quote Steve Jobs.
—
Before you bad mouth make sure you know what youre talking about.
For your information I have seen this many many times over the last 40 years in business – a competitor buys a universally accepted format and then uses it to cripple the competition.
It makes perfect sense that Sony WILL use this to effect iTunes.
IF Sony doesnt do anything like this I would be very highly surprised.
I assume Apple will now have to pay Sony a fee to use the Gracenote system too.
In my opinion Sony bought this company dirt cheap.
Gracenote should have been sold for 3 or 4 times what it went for – Sony got the bargain on the decade.
Well, at least it wasnt Microsoft that bought them, now that would be a problem for iTunes!
Yeh, 260 million for gracenote… thats way too cheap…
Monolopy will cripple the system…
Say good night, Gracenote.
I dont know what get sony spend 260milllions on buy that… ok gracenote its a mundial database of music… when I insert a cd they put me the tracks…. I dont pay any for that… and sooooo? what get sony? I dont understand the bussiness
True. If Sony does NOT use this new deal to cripple the competition, then this would be HIGHLY surprising.
Because Pony is a company of DRM and Proprietary everything. They push out thier own version of any type of device and make it Proprietary. I expect them to cripple Apple iTunes, or charge them a hefty fee.
Hmmm… seems I hit a nerve with this Gracenotes/Sony/DRM thing.