RealNetworks subscription music service
By Frank Barnako, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 10:56 AM ET Mar 30, 2001
RealNetworks (RNWK: news, msgs, alerts) reportedly is in talks with record companies to license music for MusicNet, a new subscription service. Phil Leigh, an Internet analyst at Raymond James, called the Wall Street Journal report "the first good news to come to the Internet sector in a year." As reported, the deal includes AOL Time Warner's Warner Music Group (AOL: news, msgs, alerts) , Bertelsmann AG's BMG Entertainment and EMI Group. "Napster has demonstrated consumers want digital distribution," Leigh said. "If RealNetworks could get just a couple million subscribers, a $15 a month subscription rate would imply revenues of $360 million a year." RealNetworks owns the web domain MusicNet.com. Officials from RealNetworks weren't immediately available for comment. Plus: Listen to an interview with Leigh.
