April 14, 2008

By By Antony Bruno, Denver

Music-based social network Buzznet is buying music blog Idolator. Buzznet recently acquired music blog Stereogum, making Idolator the second such acquisition since it secured $25 million in new funding, reportedly contributed in part by Universal Music Group's Interscope Records.

Idolator is part of the Gawker network of blogs, and its sale is part of a broader divestiture that includes two other Gawker properties -- travel-focused Gridskipper and the Wonkette political blog.

In a memo leaking the news to the blog Valleywag, Gawker chief Nick Denton said aggregating a variety of music blogs in one place stands a better chance of drawing advertiser attention than the current fragmented environment.

"Music audiences are fragmented across genre," he says. "Idolator gave Stereogum a good run, but a group with a whole array of music sites will command more attention from record labels than we could."

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