eMusic and K-NFB Reading, the parent company of Blio, have joined forces and restructured the company today. The new entity is known as Media Arc and will condense all ebooks and audio content under one roof. Blio is well known for providing audio books and technologies that appeal to visually disabled people, and Baker & Taylor is a strong supporter of the enterprise. Over 7 million songs, 40,000 audio books, and 600,000 ebooks are now properly of Media Arc.
According to an email sent to current eMusic partners: “Media Arc’s mission is to provide the best digital media discovery experience possible by leveraging cross-content insights to recommend new music and books to avid readers and music collectors alike. This will present both authors and artists with a unique opportunity to expand their fan base, reach new audiences, and of course sell more content. Founded by Futurist Ray Kurzweil with financial backing from former Microsoft CFO Michael Brown and media distribution giant Baker & Taylor, Blio, Inc. has built one of the most technologically advanced e-readers on the market. eMusic is a pioneer of the digital music space, with roots in helping music fans discover their next favorite artist or album dating back to 1998.”
eMusic has struggled to find the right business model since first launching in 1998. With the advent of iTunes, Amazon MP3, and Google Play, the company faced stiff competition in the music space. Its subscription model never really caught on, with users buying credits to purchase songs. The company currently has licensing deals with Sony, Warner, Universal, and EMI.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
