p2pnet news view Music:- Yesterday, “Imeem may have dodged a bullet,” p2pnet quoted TechCrunch, as saying, “Or has risen from the ashes. They have nine lives. Or my favorite: they may have pulled a rabbit out of the deadpool.”

Now, “We knew that imeem was on the verge of shutting down before getting a last-minute cash infusion from some of its investors, but an SEC filing from Warner Music adds some more details about exactly how dire imeem’s situation is, as well as that of another music startup, Lala,” it says.

They’re all chasing Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music and Sony Music, spouting about hot deals one day, and declaring bankruptcy the next.

And they’re all chasing the same cookie-cutter, formulaic crap the Big 4 pump out in endless streams, calling it music.

It’s like three or four grocers with stores immediately beside each other in the same mall where no one goes, all selling genetically engineered, flavourless potatoes which are exactly the same size, all over-charging at the same ridiculous rate, and all buying from the same producer(s).

And they’re all wondering why people arent flocking to them.

Anyway, Warner Music Group, an investor in both imeem and Lala, “took a $16 million charge to write down its investment in imeem, and an $11 million charge to write down part of its investment in Lala, plus it took another $4 million charge to write down a bad debt from imeem which it never expects to collect,” says TechCrunch, totting it up as a grand total of $33 million, “down the digital music drain”.

Oh dear!

But then in another evolution, or is it convolution, “When imeem raised rescue money from investors, it had to recapitalize,” says the story, adding:

“If Warner pitched in, which presumably it did, then it would have had to write down its old investment anyway. If that is the case, then maybe it doesn’t think that imeem is completely worthless, it is just marking its investment to market. With a recap that means marking it down to zero. But any additional investment after the recap wouldn’t be reflected in that write-down. And since you can still stream Warner artists on imeem, it stands to reason that Warner has not entirely abandoned the startup. Where there is music, there is hope.”n

Meanwhile, back at the ranch-house …

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p2pnet – Will Big Music save imeem?, May 7, 2009
TechCrunch -  Against All Odds: Imeem Raises More Cash And Has A Bold New Music Plan, May 6, 2009
more details -  Warner Music Says Imeem Is Worthless, And Owes It $4 Million Which It Can’t Collect, May 7, 2009