July 31, 2009

By By Antony Bruno, Denver

-- RealNetworks' Rhapsody music subscription service lost 50,000 subscribers in the second quarter, to 750,000. That's after a 75,000 dip the previous quarter, but still up from the 600,000 total subscribers it had a year ago.

Music revenues have been affected as a result, falling from $44 million in the first quarter of the year to $40.4 million in the second, but, again, up from the $37.2 million in the year ago quarter. CEO Rob Glaser blamed an unusually high number of credit card rejections for the shortfall, saying many customers reached their credit limit, stopped using their cards, or got a new card and never provided the new information to the service. He said two-thirds of those problems have been resolved.

The overall company saw revenues fall 11.1% to $137.7 million, and a net loss of $188.3 million.

-- ArtistData, a company that provides technology that lets artists post one update to multiple social networks, opened up its platform to third party developers. The move allows developers to create additional applications for the ArtistData system, which users can then choose as they like. The company said the move represents a shift in company strategy away from being an application developer and more towards a platform for multiple developers.

-- Rockers AFI have launched a new Web site that uses Twitter to engage fans. The band is asking fans to tag their Twitter messages with the #medigate tag after its current single, and will update the Web site with additional content once enough tweets with the tag are sent. (MusicAlly)

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