Snocap

Snocap was established in 2002 by Shawn Fanning, Jordan Mendelson, and Ron Conway, launching publicly in December 2004. Fanning, known for creating the original Napster music-sharing service, and Mendelson, Napster's former chief architect, aimed to create a legitimate marketplace for digital music. Their background at Napster provided a unique perspective on the challenges and opportunities in digital music distribution, a lesson that shaped Snocap's core mission.

The company developed a system for digital rights management and content monetization, positioning itself as an online clearinghouse for artists and labels. Its core technology was a sophisticated registry that used audio fingerprinting to identify music files. This allowed rights holders, from major labels like Universal Music Group and Sony BMG to independent artists, to register their content and define business rules for its use. These rules could dictate whether a song could be purchased, streamed for free a limited number of times, or not be available for sharing at all. Snocap's business model was to license this technology to file-sharing services and online platforms, enabling legal peer-to-peer (P2P) music distribution.

A significant milestone for Snocap was its partnership with MySpace in September 2006. This collaboration allowed artists and labels to sell their music directly to MySpace's vast user base through embeddable "MyStore" widgets. The company also partnered with the social media site imeem, providing the technology to track music plays and share advertising revenue with content creators. Despite securing deals with all four major music labels and raising over $25 million in venture funding from investors including Morgenthaler Ventures and WaldenVC, the company faced challenges. In late 2007, Snocap laid off a significant portion of its staff. Ultimately, in April 2008, imeem acquired Snocap, integrating its content identification technology and digital registry to power its own ad-supported music service.

Keywords: digital rights management, music technology, content identification, audio fingerprinting, digital music marketplace, P2P technology, online music sales, Shawn Fanning, Jordan Mendelson, Ron Conway, MySpace music, imeem, digital content registry, music licensing, copyright management, online content monetization, digital asset management, Napster veterans, music file sharing, legal music distribution