U.S. digital music distributor MediaNet is bringing its open API services to the UK, hiring former BMG UK new media head Blair Schooff to lead operations here.
MediaNet is a B2B vendor that provides data on seven million music tracks to digital music retailers including Tesco Digital. Last year, it launched its MN Open Web Components and MN Open API, allowing the retailers to more easily take control of displaying song files, artist data and ecommerce functionality. It’s attracted 70 customers for this.
It’s hiring Schoof to head its business development and licensing affairs in Europe. In the last 15 years, Schoof has variously run BMG’s digital operations and run AOL (NYSE: AOL) Music and MusicNet’s European ops. Most recently, he was consulting for We7, the UK digital music retailer that claims to have gathered 2.5 million monthly uniques, partly through allowing users to embed music off-site in web widgets.
MediaNet will be going head-to-head with 7digital, whose own API has won it the business to supply services like Last.fm, Songbird, Winamp and Spotify with music download retail.