snapshot 7/23/08

Gatekeeper of the MP3 blogosphere
A lot has changed since then. The Hype Machine, based in New York, has become one of the most talked-about music sites in the Internet. It attracts more than one million monthly visitors. Valleywag, the widely read technology blog, reported in April that Viacom offered to buy the Hype Machine for $10 million. Volodkin says this isn't true. (So does Viacom.) But he says people approach him "all the time " about investing in his company.


Amazon.com Announces Second Quarter Sales up 41% to $4.06 Billion; Sales Growth Accelerates to 31% in Media and to 58% in Electronics and Other General Merchandise
Worldwide Media sales grew 31% to $2.41 billion in second quarter 2008, compared with $1.83 billion in second quarter 2007.


MySpace’s DeWolfe Says New Music Joint Venture to Launch in September
MySpace ’s upcoming music joint venture with 3 of the 4 major labels, first announced in April, will launch in September (EMI is still a holdout, but from what we hear they may be ready to fold soon). Chris DeWolfe, CEO of MySpace, mentioned that date and gave other details about the joint venture in an interview today with Adam Lashinsky at the Fortune Brainstorm conference in Half Moon Bay, CA.

Afterward, he told TechCrunch Co-Editor Erick Schonfeld, who is attending the event, that MySpace Music will be a combination music store/subscription service, with unlimited playbacks of full tracks, but for free. The revenue model will be advertising and paid downloads. Advertisers are already lining up, with some eight-figure deals being negotiated.


SanDisk: "A Rapid Deterioration In Consumer Confidence"
SanDisk went sans profits during the most recent quarter, the result of softening consumer demand for flash memory and MP3 players. After the closing bell Monday, the company reported a massive loss of $68 million, or 30-cents per share, a reversal from year-ago earnings of $28 million, or 12-cents per share.