LISTEN.COM TO CHANGE
BUSINESS MODEL

Online music directory Listen.com said it is shifting its focus from direct consumer marketing to a business-to-business approach.

The company plans to announce Thursday (11/9) a new streaming music service built from technology inherited from WiredPlanet, a company it bought in September, CNET is reporting.

But Listen.com executives also are using the announcement to draw attention to their new emphasis on syndicating the company's services to other businesses, rather than on a direct approach to consumers.

"We've established ourselves as the music experts on the Web by syndicating our comprehensive online music directory to most of the top portals and entertainment sites," Listen.com President Sean Ryan said in a statement. "Our goal is to expand our syndication offerings to meet all of the online music needs that our partners have."

In recent weeks, the company made a bid for the assets of Scour, a Napster-like file-swapping service that filed for bankruptcy protection in October.

Other companies may still outbid Listen.com for these assets, but if it does walk away with Scour's technology, the directory will likely morph into a music distribution service.

Thursday's announcement of a Webcasting service marks another step away from the directory business.