Yahoo said on Monday that it will let the website Rhapsody handle its online subscription music service and concentrate on letting people access free songs on the Internet.
Yahoo announced its deal with Rhapsody while revealing it bought Israeli firm FoxyTunes, which specialises in small "widget" programs that make it easy for people to link to online music through Web browsers.
"It is not that we are no longer focused on music," said Yahoo spokeswoman Carrie Davis. "It is just that we are de-emphasising premium music service to focus on free music and information."
Yahoo said it would shut down its Music Unlimited service and "migrate" members to a subscription on-demand music service powered by Rhapsody at its Yahoo Music website.
Rhapsody is a partnership between RealNetworks and Viacom-owned MTV Networks. Yahoo says the monthly membership for its "all you can eat music" on-demand service has ranged from 21 to 24 million people of late.
"By partnering with Yahoo, we are able to instantly extend Rhapsody's 'jukebox in the sky' experience to one of the biggest music-seeking audiences on the web," said RealNetworks chief executive Rob Glaser.
Yahoo Music Unlimited members moved to the Rhapsody-powered service will be able to keep their old subscription prices "for a limited time." Yahoo's subscription service features lower rates than Rhapsody.
Yahoo head of media Scott Moore said the deal with Rhapsody fits Yahoo's goal of being the preferred starting point for Internet searches, in this case attracting music fans "on their path to music discovery." Yahoo did not release financial details of its purchase of FoxyTunes, which created a popular browser plug-in program that finds music and related content based on songs they play using their computers.
"Our partnership with Rhapsody, the acquisition of FoxyTunes and the release of the web-based Yahoo Media Player moves Yahoo Music closer to our goal of enabling users to play all of the music on the Web," said Yahoo vice president of video and media applications Ian Rogers.
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