Cambridge, Mass. – ReDigi, the Cambridge-based operator of an online marketplace for used digital music, has raised $760,000 in venture capital, the company disclosed in a new filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The free, cloud-based service allows users to store, stream, and/or sell legally purchased digital music, leveraging the first sale doctrine in the digital realm (and displeasing the recorded music industry in the process). Additionally, artists that participate in the company’s Artist Syndication Program get paid every time a user buys or sells one of their songs.
ReDigi’s technology facilitates the transfer of a digital music files from one user to another in a manner that the company says does not involve copying or file sharing. It handles only tracks originally sold on iTunes, which helps it authenticate the legal provenance of the song, and also because unlike other digital music retailers, Apple’s user agreements do not prohibit resales.
Part of this article was also published in New England Tech Wire. Chris Marlowe contributed to this version.
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Amplified Steve on 10 Jun 10"There's been a lot of speculation as of late with regard to the future of digital music, but judging by the results of a recent report by Nielsen Soundscan, music sales have only increased this past year. According to the report, sales were up 2.1 percent in 2009 from 2008, with consumers snagging 1.16 million digital tracks (an 8.3 percent increase from '08) and 76.4 million digital albums (a 16.1 percent bump). In fact, 40 percent of all music purchases in 2009 were digital." A few months old now but still very interesting
