Heard of Snocap? There's a good chance you haven't. And that's a big problem. In fact, according to a report in C/NET, Snocap has laid off about 60% of its workforce.

The company -- which got its start in 2002 -- was the brainstorm of twenty-something Shawn Fanning. His prior gig was Napster, which had a big disruptive impact on the music business.

But Snocap wanted to be different; that is, it wanted to develop a platform to allow file-sharing sites to sell music in accordance with the law. Basically, the company handles such complexities as licensing and e-commerce distribution.

In theory, it's a cool idea. But, in the real world, there hasn't been much interest. This is the case even though Snocap has a distribution deal with MySpace.

Essentially, I think the big problem is Apple Inc.'s (NASDAQ: APPL) iTunes. Simply put, it sucks up most of the attention in the online music space.

And now, according to a post in Valleywag, it looks like Snocap is prepping for a sale. But in light of the mixed performance so far, I wouldn't expect a premium deal.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates DealProfiles.com.

Snocap melts originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 14 Oct 2007 14:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

My problem with MySpace (other than your garden-variety identity theft) has always been its lack of monetization. Sure, I've said, the site is ridiculously popular. But where's the revenue? Today's BusinessWeek may have the answer.

MySpace, it appears, has unveiled a plan to partner with Shawn Fanning's latest foray into music sharing, Snocap. They'll be bringing music from indie musicians directly to fans and, you'd imagine, taking a cut in the process. It's at once brilliant and obvious: no one has taken advantage of (dare I say: "exploited") the fanboy/fangirl nature of the MySpace audience so well as bands, from the up-and-coming to also-rans. My youngest sister and my babysitter are active both in the indie music scene and in MySpace, and their iPods are always stuffed full of whatever new undiscovered tune found on the site.

Jupiter senior analyst David Card is quoted as saying he's skeptical, and our digital music expert at Download Squad agrees, "I don't see MySpace unseating the iTunes Music Store from its throne with this new offering." No, and yet that's not where this is going (Joe from Techdirt agrees): it's about monetizing the one thing MySpace has done really, really well: connect teensy bands with their groups of rabid fans. And those connections aren't going away.

MySpace: finally, musical monetization? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 05 Sep 2006 15:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.