Petteri Pyyny
30 Sep 2002 16:16
One of the oldest digital music companies still around, Liquid Audio, has been in serious financial problems over the last year or so and company has been seen as a very probable Chapter 11 candidate for some time now. Today Liquid Audio announced that it sold its DRM and secure file-transaction patents to Microsoft for $7 million in cash.
Now Liquid Audio says that once the deal is finished, it will focus on selling and licensing its existing digital distribution technology to content providers and online retailers. Company has also voted about merger with Alliance Entertainment and vote's results should be ready by Friday. Liquid Audio has operated since 1996 and has developed secure online music distribution tools, payment methods, etc which never really took off because of various things, including major record labels' unattractive licensing policies and P2P networks.