Radionomy Winamp
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Alexandre Saboundjian tells me the deal between AOL and his company, Radionomy Group, was reached in a mere 10 days - not counting the time it took to get the paperwork out of the way.
It was an unusual deal to boot: in the beginning of this year, Radionomy - a small but growing Belgian upstart - acquired from Internet giant AOL both its media streaming software SHOUTcast and legendary media player Winamp - before AOL got a chance to shut them down.
Radionomy had just merged with audio ad network company TargetSpot at the end of last year, and when Saboundjian caught wind of AOL's rumoured desire to sell its Winamp and SHOUTcast assets off to Microsoft or whoever else would join at the bidding table, he reached out to TargetSpot investor Fred Wilson from USV to get a 'warm' introduction to.
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- Radionomy CEO Alexandre Saboundjian, in a conversation with TechCrunch, revealed the arrival of Winamp 6 as the reinvested Winamp. 'There will be a completely new version next year, with the.
Fifteen years earlier, AOL had acquired both from a startup, called Nullsoft, for a reported $80 million in stock. Radionomy didn't cough up nearly that much, but still a heck of a lot considering its own current size.
Backed by some of its investors (which include reputable American VCs like Union Square Ventures and Bain Capital, as well as CBS), Radionomy paid between $5 million and $10 million for the properties, with AOL retaining a 12% stake in the business.
A speedy agreement, with the help of a certain NYC-based investor
That the deal happened so quickly involved - not uncommonly - a great deal of luck and good timing.
Radionomy had just merged with audio ad network company TargetSpot at the end of last year, and when Saboundjian caught wind of AOL's rumoured desire to sell its Winamp and SHOUTcast assets off to Microsoft or whoever else would join at the bidding table, he reached out to TargetSpot investor Fred Wilson from USV to get a 'warm' introduction to AOL.
Wilson came through, and just a short time later Saboundjian found himself negotiating deal terms with AOL's corporate development execs.
SHOUTcast was the real target of the acquisition, enabling Radionomy to grow almost instantly from hosting roughly 7,000 to about 60,000 online radio stations. It gives Radionomy a lot of scale for its online radio station hosting and management tools, particularly in the United States, and now-subsidiary TargetSpot an opportunity to grow its business in Europe and beyond.
Radionomy is currently finalising a new round of financing that will allow the company to grow its staff and integrate SHOUTcast with Radionomy completely.
Winamp: the little extra that could
For Radionomy and its backers, Winamp was considered a 'nice-to-have', until Saboundjian looked at the numbers and was astonished by how popular the media player still is today.
Another, brand new team based in its Brussels offices will be dedicated to upgrading Winamp for the next generation of users, platforms and music streaming and distribution services.
Saboundjian was careful not to go into too many specifics, but it sounded to me like the company will likely transform Winamp into a hybrid media player that caters well to a wide range of mobile devices, as well as connected car dashboards. He also promises new features, without providing details.
Radionomy Winamp 5
Winamp's future on the desktop is, let's say, less certain, but the new version of the software will find its way to places that it wasn't available in before. As mentioned earlier, Radionomy has started conversations with car manufacturers to explore possibilities for collaboration and integrating Winamp into the dashboards of Internet-connected vehicles.
The retooling will not happen in a hurry. As alluded to earlier, SHOUTcast is Radionomy's priority for now, so don't expect any major news about the future of Winamp until the end of this year.
Nevertheless, users who were understandably worried about the future of Winamp apparently don't need to fret too much: it genuinely seems like Radionomy is devoted to making sure the brand lives on in a modern media player that can rival the best of them. Starting in 2015, that is.
Until then, you'll have to be content with clicking the llama's ass on this website.
It’s a done deal: after earlier rumours, Belgian Internet radio startup Radionomy has confirmed that it has acquired once-popular media player Winamp and streaming software platform SHOUTcast from AOL.
AOL originally said it would close down the legacy music services before the end of last year, but there was a lot of acquisition interest after the announcement, and it seems Radionomy won out.
Belgian business newspaper De Tijd has the scoop (in Dutch, paywall), with Ben Serrure reporting that Radionomy plans to breathe new life into Winamp while significantly expanding its core business with the acquisition of SHOUTcast.
Update: and here’s the official press release announcing the deal.
Update 2: AOL-owned TechCrunch has learned that it indeed involved a cash-and-share deal, worth between $5 million and $10 million, with AOL taking a 12% stake in Radionomy.
Thanks to the SHOUTcast part of the agreement, Radionomy will instantly be able to grow the number of online radio stations it hosts from roughly 7,000 to about 60,000 stations in total.
Last month, Radionomy merged with TargetSpot, a U.S.-based digital audio advertising network.
Radionomy Winamp App
As for Winamp, it sounds like the people still using the media player despite the lack of updates in recent times can rest easy for now, as Radionomy says it has ‘big plans’ for the product. The company wants to have solid Winamp iOS and Android apps on the market by April, reports De Tijd.
From the press release:
“Winamp is a top independent player that gives millions of people the best player functionality available,” said Alexandre Saboundjian, CEO, Radionomy Group.
“Its role is clear in the future evolution of online media – we plan to make the player ubiquitous, developing new functionalities dedicated to desktop, mobile, car systems, connected devices and all other platforms.”
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Radionomy co-founder and CEO Alexandre Saboundjian did disclose to De Tijd that the company has raised a new Series B round of funding and that AOL will become a Radionomy shareholder after the transaction closes.
According to its ‘facts sheet’ (PDF), Radionomy raised approximately $6 million in funding in the past. Shareholders include Musicmatic (which will maintain a majority stake in Radionomy and continue to run Jamendo, a ‘free music’ bazaar of sorts) and French investment firm OTC.
De Tijd reports that new investors include Union Square Ventures (Twitter, Etsy, Kickstarter, Foursquare, SoundCloud, etc.) and Bain Capital (DoubleClick, Lala, Gartner, LinkedIn and Shopping.com). This checks out and it is likely a result of the TargetSpot/Radionomy merger – both Bain Capital and USV were TargetSpot investors.
Radionomy Winamp Download
We’ve reached out to Mr. Saboundjian for more information and will update when we hear back.
Radionomy Winamp Free
Featured image credit: Le Web /Flickr