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"Thumbplay has yet to reach its one-year anniversary in the music subscription space \u2014 and it now it seems that it will never do so, as the company is selling the service to Clear Channel Radio.\nA release that hit the wires last night did not disclose a selling price, but All Things Digital's Peter Kafka reports that \"a source familiar with the company tells me investors who put some $41 million into the company don\u2019t expect to get all their money back.\"\nKafka also reports that Thumbplay's subscription service only has 20,000 subscribers (since launch in March 2010), all of which pay $10 per month for unlimited music (a standard pricing embraced by comparable companies, MOG and Rdio).\nAccording to a release, the deal does not include Thumbplay's ringtone business, but rather will allow Clear Channel to tap into Thumbplay's music technology and services, as well as its staff \u2014 which, it seems, will be folded into the iHeartRadio platform.\nRobert Pittman, Chairman of Media and Entertainment Platforms for Clear Channel (and founder of MTV, which means he's no slouch when it comes to building out music platforms), said of the deal, \u201CJoining Thumbplay's custom radio and subscription services with Clear Channel\u2019s streaming expertise, iHeartRadio\u2019s Internet and mobile audio and music services, including 750 online radio stations, digital-only stations and apps, will create an unsurpassed integrated music product. Couple this with Clear Channel\u2019s promotional power to reach 228 million people on a monthly basis, and you have a combination nobody else can match.\u201D\nIt was also recently announced that iHeartRadio will be included in Toyota connected cars. Pandora will also be available in these vehicles. \nThis move, it seems, pits Thumbplay much more against services like Pandora and Slacker Radio (i.e.: services that do not yet have on-demand listening) than Spotify, MOG or Rdio.\nStill, the release does say that this acquisition will make it possible for Clear Channel to launch subscription services in the the future, so we'll have to wait and see what will transpire on the battlefield that is the digital music space.\nImage courtesy of iStockphoto, shulz"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2011/03/01/clear-channel-thumbplay/>