Music for the masses

Posted February 4th, 2008 at 6:01 am by ian c rogers, Yahoo! Music

 28 Comments / Filed in: Trends & News

Last year, shortly after I assumed the role of Yahoo! Music’s General Manager, we started saying publicly that we were “de-emphasizing” our premium music offering, Yahoo! Music Unlimited. The fact of the matter is that building a great premium music service takes a huge amount of resources and effort, and it was taking energy away from our important main offerings, music.yahoo.com (the Web’s #1 Music destination), music videos, and LAUNCHcast Radio. Around 25 million people visit Yahoo! Music each month. Relatively speaking, a small percentage of those use Yahoo! Music Unlimited, yet an large portion of our resources were being poured into this service. It was clear to us that we needed to make a major strategic shift.

It wasn’t an easy decision. We’re huge fans of Yahoo! Music Unlimited and those customers include many of our most loyal and valuable. We wanted to be sure those users had the best on-demand music experience available on the Internet.

As a result, we’re pleased to announce Rhapsody as our exclusive partner for on-demand music. Yahoo! Music Unlimited subscribers will have a chance to easily take their music catalogs and migrate to Rhapsody. Later this year we will be integrating Rhapsody into music.yahoo.com, so you can continue to use Yahoo! Music for music discovery, news, videos, lyrics, radio, concerts, blogs, and more, and always be a click away from music on-demand. Also, our subscribers will finally have access to the best off-PC experiences such as Rhapsody for TiVo, Sonos, and Control 4 in the living room.

We hope being able to take your Yahoo! Music Unlimited collection to the best subscription service on the Web — the one which works on PC or Mac, Firefox or Safari as well as TiVo, Sonos, etc. — at the Yahoo! Music Unlimited price, is an acceptable outcome. We sincerely apologize for any hassle and thank you for joining us in the Yahoo! Music Unlimited run. It was a wild ride for all of us.

I’m sure a question many people are going to ask is if this means Yahoo! is backing away from online music. Au contraire. It is a major strategy shift but we’re still investing in our music business as evidenced by my second bit of news: our acquisition of FoxyTunes. FoxyTunes is the world’s most popular media toolbar, a plug-in for either Firefox or Internet Explorer. FoxyTunes adds useful functionality to more than 30 media players, including iTunes, Winamp, and Pandora. With FoxyTunes you can easily control your media player from the place you spend most of your time, your Web browser, and jump from a track playing in any media player to lyrics, biography, videos, or more music in a single click. What’s more, the innovative “Signatunes” feature helps you express yourself via your music tastes by automatically inserting signatures into your favorite email program (Yahoo! Mail, Gmail), social network messages (Facebook, MySpace), or blog authoring/commenting platform, based on the currently playing track.

For an excellent tour of FoxyTunes’ far-reaching functionality, please see the screencast on FoxyTunes.com.

While it doesn’t tell the whole story, this news, along with the recent news of our Web Media Player (for a great example of the player in use, check out Aurgasm.us), points the direction for a new Yahoo! Music. We’re focusing on delivering relevant music experiences on the Web and are happy to be partnering with Rhapsody to bring you a simple, integrated, on-demand music experience.

If you’ve never used Rhapsody, check out my best of 2007 playlist on Rhapsody now for free. And be sure to control Rhapsody.com and learn more about each artist with FoxyTunes. ;)

Enjoy,
ian c rogers
Yahoo! Music

Tagged: acquisition, foxytunes, rhapsody, yahoo! music

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28 Comments Add your own

Aaron | February 4th, 2008 at 6:16 am

I am very disappointed in in Yahoo and their decision to drop their music engine. I have loved this product and yahoo throughout the past few years. I have been a very loyal customer. Due to Yahoo’s decision I will never use the search engine or its products again. Yahoo continually removes their offerings take, yahoo auctions, for example. They are no longer reliable as a company and have lost their creative drive and want to want to please the customer. They use to be what Google is now. As for the decision to move customer over to rhapsody its the wrong one. Why not offer your loyal customers a refund. If I wanted to get rhapsody I would have purchased it in the first place. Since I renewed for a year in advance looks like I will be stuck with it for a long time. Maybe its a good thing Microsoft is trying to buy you out. Thanks yahoo.

Robbie | February 4th, 2008 at 6:42 am

So what does this mean for sansa connect users?

JohnG | February 4th, 2008 at 7:46 am

I am confused regarding the details here.

Here is my situation:

1. I am a YMU subscriber with a yearly subscription that expires im May. I am paying $5.99/month.
2. I saw the writing on the wall and signed up for a 14-day trial of Rhapsody. Since their service is more expensive ($12.99), I decided at go all in and got To Go at $14.99.
3. I spent a good part of Saturday adding artists to my Rhapsody library.

My questions are as follows:

1. Are you going to add major new releases on YMU until its demise or is YMU effectively dead for these releases until the switchover?
2. You state the following:
“We hope being able to take your Yahoo! Music Unlimited collection to the best subscription service on the Web — the one which works on PC or Mac, Firefox or Safari as well as TiVo, Sonos, etc. — at the Yahoo! Music Unlimited price, is an acceptable outcome.”
Published reports say this will be for a “limited time”. Can you be more specific?
3. You also suggest that there will be an (easy?) migration. Can you elaborate?

And the most important question for me:

4. Should I cancel my 14-day trial at Rhapsody? Will a migration be more beneficial to me?

JohnG

Canadian Customer | February 4th, 2008 at 8:08 am

I am a Yahoo Music Unlimited customer from Canada. What does this mean for Yahoo’s Canadian subscribers as Rhapsody is only available in the US. Is Rhapsody going to be made available to Canadians or are we going to be left out in the cold when the transition takes place? If it’s the latter, can I expect a refund on the balance of my paid subscription? (I think I already know the answer to that!)

Troy | February 4th, 2008 at 8:26 am

Well thanks alot for throwing away a perfectly good music player & service. Yahoo’s “unlimited” music service was an utter disappointment compared to Musicmatch Jukebox. Now you’re gonna just drop out all together. Typical big business - “don’t give a shit about the customers”.

Did you ever consider that your music service didn’t bring in the numbers you’d hope for - because the users had a perfectly wonderful app & service literally ripped from their hands, then given a mediocre player & service in it’s place.

Thanks for nothing, please cancel any & all Yahoo accounts, services, etc. that I may be subscribing to.

ian c rogers | February 4th, 2008 at 8:33 am

Aaron, you will be offered a refund. You will not be required to migrate to Rhapsody. Sorry if this wasn’t clear.

I hope this helps. I understand your frustration and apologize.

ian

RickyF | February 4th, 2008 at 8:43 am

I will not be coming along for the ride. I did not sign up with Rhapsody. I purchased Yahoo and do want to be “sold”. I suspect that I am not alone in this feeling of betrayal.

Ian, I think you are a good guy in a bad place - having to announce this awful change at the same time that Microsoft is breathing down on Yahoo. Hope you end up with something good out of this.

But for me it is bye-bye Yahoo Music and hello Amazon MP3 downloads.

CJay | February 4th, 2008 at 8:45 am

You know, When Yahoo bought Music Match Jukebox(MMJB) it did not take long to butcher a great product.

By August 31,2007 they were shutting down the old service and having the users migrate to a new and better product and service! Yahoo Jukebox.

Yahoo Jukebox was not an upgrade! It was a downgraded product compared to the old MMJB. Yahoo should have been ashamed for trying to pass it off as a professional product.

Not even six months has passed and the services are being pealed away. Dumping their customers onto another service provider.

But, they sure seem confident about their new purchase of Foxy Tunes. I have used it and found it to be a good product. Now that Yahoo has their hands on it, we can only hope that they don’t butcher it like MMJB.

I would not even hazard a guess at a time table for it’s mutilation. After all, it might end up being in the hands of Microsoft!

Mattumanu | February 4th, 2008 at 8:48 am

I just came out of musicmatch and it being bought out by Yahoo! Now I’m being shuffled off to Rhapsody. I’m curious, sir, how do you think I’m supposed to feel? What do you think will happen when all of us find out what’s happened? MusicMatch was my only choice for online subscription music because it was fantastic. Yahoo! has always been an also ran, with less choice and glitchy service. Now you want me to use your even crappier service, Yahoo.music? Just because a lot of people go there doesn’t mean it’s the best.

I’m sitting here and re-evaluating all my yahoo software and my desire to continue using them. That would include things such as yahoo widget engine. I don’t know what I’m going to do at this point.

And to the person who asked about the Sansa Connect… Amazon.com just dropped the price of the 4 gig sansa from $249 to $85. I’ll bet you feel doubly gyped now.

Donahoo | February 4th, 2008 at 9:20 am

I’m disappointed that it comes to this after trashing MusicMatch Jukebox for everyone who loved it. While I did appreciate the ability to download subscription music so it could be played in a better music player, I just wish you all had left MMJB alone.

Aaron | February 4th, 2008 at 10:20 am

Thanks Ian,

For the information about the refund. I still can’t believe yahoo is selling us out to the AOL of the music world, Real Networks. Real Networks is the creator of Rhapsody and Real Player.

M A Shifman | February 4th, 2008 at 10:32 am

I read on that LaunchCast will not be affected by this change. Does that mean that “My Station” which I spent so many months getting to play mostly what I wanted to hear, will still be available? Or will it only be the genre based pre-programmed stations available?

If the tranfer to Rhapsody does not include the use of my custom radio option, I will be requesting a refund.

Brandon | February 4th, 2008 at 10:48 am

I am really dumbstruck by what big babies these people are being. Welcome to the real world, folks. No one gets a free ride and if Yahoo isn’t making money on their music service, then it goes bye-bye. Funny, I didn’t see you guys offer to pay more money for your service to meet them half way. Grow up.

Vincent Clement | February 4th, 2008 at 2:23 pm

Hmmm, when Yahoo acquired MusicMatch Jukebox, the same things were said. I ended up not upgrading to Yahoo! Music Jukebox based on feedback posted by other users. Now it’s FoxyTunes that receiving the platitudes. Oh oh.

rjmrjm | February 4th, 2008 at 2:28 pm

bummer. i assume there’s a FAQ somewhere about the transition and i just haven’t been able to find it? seems like you’d want to have your details all worked out ahead of time to avoid ticking off your customers any more than necessary.

-r

ChaseandSam.com | February 4th, 2008 at 2:59 pm

Wow, Ian - this just doesn’t seem like a good idea at all. Surely you guys know reputation of the media player that is offered by the company you are merging with, right?

Considering the Microsoft buyout, this is sure a funny time for this to happen.

I’ve written a long reaction post to this at our website, chaseandsam.com

I do appreciate that you are being upfront about the situation, and offering refunds for those who opt out of the merger.

Kim | February 4th, 2008 at 10:10 pm

So I guess that means the money I spent on YMJ Plus will be going down the drain since there won’t be any future versions.

mmjbfan | February 4th, 2008 at 10:28 pm

ya know! if i were the government i’d take a close look at this deal. someone eliminated a big chunk of the competition and in the process ruined a great music service, mmjb. it’s obvious yahoo execs have no clue and microsoft isn’t much better. i am glad to know, though, that neither company is more interested in the almighty dollar than their customers. i do have a suggestion for microsoft though that would make many of us happy. when you buy yahoo, rip the cold heart out of yahoo and throw the bleeding carcus out on the e-way in the hot sun to rot along with their execs. it’s a glass half full kinda thought that counts. just another modern thoughtless big business abortion.

James | February 5th, 2008 at 1:47 pm

I’d be interested in these too.

“1. Are you going to add major new releases on YMU until its demise or is YMU effectively dead for these releases until the switchover?
2. You state the following:
“We hope being able to take your Yahoo! Music Unlimited collection to the best subscription service on the Web — the one which works on PC or Mac, Firefox or Safari as well as TiVo, Sonos, etc. — at the Yahoo! Music Unlimited price, is an acceptable outcome.”
Published reports say this will be for a “limited time”. Can you be more specific?
3. You also suggest that there will be an (easy?) migration. Can you elaborate?”

Rit | February 5th, 2008 at 3:08 pm

I really feel betrayed here. I was an original MM subscriber so it was bad enough when Yahoo came in and killed MMJB (so much for paying for all future software upgrades). Now this?

I’d like an answer to the Sansa Connect question please. Are you going to migrate that to Rhap too? Or is that another hunk of change for me to flush? I use the streaming more than the MP3 playing. I sure ain’t touching a Zune any time soon.

I understand the business side of a service like this but at least think this stuff through and give us complete information will ya.

Bo | February 5th, 2008 at 6:04 pm

What happens to users who have prepaid for Yahoo Unlimited? I signed up for annual plan and I am pre-paid until May 2009. I see no annual plan offered under Rhapsody.

Ryan | February 5th, 2008 at 7:02 pm

I won’t miss the Yahoo software - I couldn’t even close the application without ending the process through task manager.

But, I did like the service and did shell out $140 on my mastercard (remember? - the buy one year on MC, get the second year free) for a 2 year subscription about 6 months ago.

I wonder what this means for me? My guess is that the answer won’t come easy.

nuffsaid | February 6th, 2008 at 10:47 am

Thank you for being so smart, I thought it was a bad idea from the beginning and Yahoo lost a lot of money doing it. Tech support was awful.

Tina | February 6th, 2008 at 2:23 pm

I bought MusicMatch Jukebox Plus with A.F.V. and got stuck with a program that messed up all of my music files and only had half of the features MusicMatch had. Yahoo’s jukebox was a joke compared to MM. I called your company for my money back and they told me no. So, I deleted yahoo’s jokebox but kept an eye on their message boards in hope that your jukebox would improve or you would bring back the MM jukebox with the yahoo name on it. Now I hear you are selling out to Rhapsody? Let me ask you, do they have a Rhapsody jukebox Plus with afv? Or are we screwd yet again? I’ll say it again… I just want some of my money back and call it a day. I’ve since found Media Monkey and it’s free and almost as good as MM was. I’d like a response please.

Al | February 8th, 2008 at 10:26 am

My subscription is set to expire in a few months and I definitely will *NOT* be switching to Rhapsody. A company with a history of spyware and horrible customer service at only twice the price? No thank you. I’d rather go back to an FM radio. Typical Yahoo arrogance - they never did give a tinker’s darn what the users thought or felt, and continue to act accordingly. I also can’t help but notice Yahoo’s lack of honesty. They should have announced last fall that they definitely would not be making ANY improvements to the jukebox program (they obviously knew back then).

brad dodson | February 17th, 2008 at 6:54 pm

Please answer what will occur to Sansa Connect users. I went with 2 of these over iPods (which my wife wanted) in December just because of the ability to download with WiFi anyhwere and use my Yahoo Music paid subscription. I really sold my wife on this and how “cool” we were to do this instead of paying a flat per song rate. Heck, we’d be able to pull all of our favorite songs for the subscription price and have it to go - which is perfect as she travels for a living with an airline.

NOW - I guess I might be out the $200 bucks I spent for these players. That sucks. Like others - I’ve really been loyal to Yahoo - never wavering - I didn’t jump all over google. My home page goes to Yahoo on every computer I use, whether personal, or business.

What will happen to the Sansa Connect? Will I be able to use it?

Tess Lorico | February 18th, 2008 at 6:05 pm

Dear Mr. Jerry Yang and Mr. Ian Rogers:

(From a loyal LAUNCHCast listener here for many years.)

Recently, I joined Facebook.com and added the iLike application to my profile. I needed to hear music as I browse through the fun resources and find my friends.

It will be very cool if you are able to make Yahoo Music LAUNCHcast application compatible with Facebook. I can then remove iLike and add my LAUNCHcast music to my profile. This can also benefit other loyal LAUNCHcast listeners.

Your thoughts?? Thanks!

Best wishes,
Tess

tess_lorico@yahoo.com
408-417-8400 cell

len | February 19th, 2008 at 1:38 pm

It would have been nice if YAHOO had simply informed all it’s current users via email about this instead of having to find out through a forced upgrade of the jukebox that eliminated license upgrades on mp3 players. I called and emailed YAHOO about this for the past 5 days and not once did anyone mention this fact. Only today did a Billing supervisor confirm that not only was Yahoo was dropping the to-go service, but that the current jukebox won’t even allow music on mp3 players to be updated with the current licenses. Way to go, yahoo. I hope Microsoft treats you just the same as you’ve treated your customers.