Passalong NetWorks bites the dust
p2pnet news view Music | Advertising:- Under Where the Hell do they Get the Money? – have you ever heard of Passalong Networks, aka the Tennessee Pacific Group?
It’d “burned through $40 million by the tail end of last year,” says Digital Music News today.
And now the company is going down the tubes.
Remember the Buy Red farce in 2006 when companies such as Apple and American Express, GAP, Motorola, MTV Networks, Giorgio Armani and Converse figured they could use desperately ill people in Third World countries to boost sales?
Led by U2’s On No it’s Bono, aids, tuberculosis and malaria became focal points for various companies in marketing campaigns through which 10% of sales (usually) would be paid to various regions in what amounted to a kind of advertising fee.
Sure, there’s no doubt a lot of individuals genuinely thought they were helping, but if you believe the majority of companies touting the Buy Red slogan were involved out of the goodness of their hearts …
Anyway, Passalong Networks, with ex-Microsoft guy Dave Jaworski (who’d “been responsible for 80 percent of the U.S. retail sales budget as well as heading up U.S. sales operations and Microsoft University”) behind it, had planned to launch (Red)Wire, a “secure distribution and sharing services for digital media”.
Loaded with Windows Media DRM, PassAlong boasts — sorry, boasted – it could incorporate any DRM or music file format, going on:
“The PassAlong music-sharing system allows consumers to recommend music to friends with links to song clips sent through email and instant messaging (IM) services from AOL, MSN and Yahoo! The PassAlong music catalog features nearly 3 million songs from all major labels, including nearly 2 million independent songs in MP3 format. PassAlong Networks will also offer exclusive digital downloads and artist promotions.“
Now, however, Passalong Networks is, “winding down and looking to sell its various business units, according to details confirmed by Digital Music News late Monday,” says the story, adding:
“The shutdown process already involves the departures of several top executives, including SVP of Corporate Development Skip Franklin and Founder & CEO Dave Jaworski. According to sources close to the situation, Passalong properties Speakerheart, OnTour, and StoreBlocks are all being positioned for sale.
The company will continue to support charitable initiative (RED)Wire, according to sources*. Outside of that, near-term shutdown and liquidation details remain unclear, and sources were unable to outline a time window for the process.
digital music news – Passalong Networks Shutting Down; Top Execs Departing, April 15, 2009
Use free p2pnet newsfeeds for your site. It`s really easy! Subscribe to p2pnet.net | | rss feed: http://p2pnet.net/p2p.rss | | Mobile – http://p2pnet.net/index-wml.php
Net access blocked by government restrictions? Use Psiphon from the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto. Go here for details.
April 15th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
that bono is a real BONEHEAD
used the berlin wall to make himself famous then got knighted and guess what HES NO different a a complete turd.
makes me ill how rich they are , they could give away music for the rest of ten lifetimes and have money to spare.
Proof again that some musicians are not about making ART or music to be enjoyed BUT sold as a product.
IF so , then say NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
April 15th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
…and if you bought any DRMed songs guess what you get as a present for buying them? That’s right…no servers to authorize play. So those that bought music are shafted once again. Nice going for the legal channels. They’re the best advertisement for piracy going.
June 11th, 2009 at 4:36 am
Ok so I had a store through Pass Along Networks and Storeblocks… I paid for a full year…does anybody know if and/or how I can get my money back?? Was a great service and had a lot of potential.. there were things that needed to be improved but was a great music store front