Washington, DC. (Top40 Charts/ Revolution LLC) - Steve Case's Revolution LLC today announced that it has formally launched a new online music service - Qloud (pronounced "cloud"). With 1 million registered users and 120 million recorded plays in less than three months, Qloud's My
Music application built on Facebook Platform is already the second-largest music application on the social utility.
Case is joined by a number of online and music industry luminaries as investors and board members in Qloud, including the founder of Island Records, Chris Blackwell, who discovered U2 and Bob Marley and was recently inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame; the founder of Launch Music, Dave Goldberg, who most recently headed Yahoo! Music; the former head of AOL's online music properties, Jim Bankoff, who will now serve as Qloud's chairman; Ted Leonsis, Vice Chairman Emeritus of AOL and Chairman of Revolution Money; and music industry executives Paul Vidich, formerly EVP Strategy and Business Development of Warner Music, and Tom Ryan, formerly Global SVP of Digital and Mobile Strategy of EMI Music. Qloud was co-founded by former AOLers Toby Murdock and Mike Lewis.
The Qloud My Music application is a revolutionary music service that delivers online music to users how they want it - legal, cost-free, DRM-free, on-demand and linked to their personal music libraries - and where they want it - inside social networks where they can share music with and discover it through their friends.
For example, by simply installing the My Music Facebook application users immediately can see and legally play entire songs and videos from their complete iTunes libraries inside of Facebook for free. My Music also allows users to see and play online the iTunes libraries of their friends, view and exchange playlists with their friends, browse and play the most popular songs among their friends and social groups, and add their friends' songs to their own online libraries.
"Although there are hundreds of music sites, Qloud provides consumers with unparalleled choice, control and convenience," said Steve Case, chairman and CEO of Revolution LLC. "Qloud enables people to conveniently listen to the music they love while also helping them discover new music through their friends. We're delighted to be partnering with a 'supergroup' of legends from the music and Internet industries to take music - and social networks - to a whole new level."
Qloud's service features an online jukebox with unlimited, streaming music and videos played on-demand. Qloud delivers this new and exciting music experience by embedding content from licensed providers, such as YouTube, Revver and Brightcove, and then making this content available to consumers in easy to navigate locations. Qloud also features deep social networking tools and a powerful, community-based music discovery system driven by the Qloud iTunes plug-in. This plug-in recreates a user's iTunes library in a browser and enables users to explore the iTunes libraries of other Qloud users.
"It is clear that Qloud's My Music has already struck a chord with consumers," said Jim Bankoff, chairman of Qloud and former EVP of AOL. "It is striking to see that My Music is now more popular than Last.fm, Pandora and Imeem combined on Facebook - especially since these music brands have been around for years and My Music became available just three months ago."
In addition to availability on Facebook and syncing with iTunes, Qloud expects to soon announce integration with other social networks and syncing with additional media software.
"Free, on-demand content via an all-in-one interface and without the DRM hassles associated with downloads is the music experience that consumers want," said Toby Murdock, co-founder of Qloud. "Combined with our music discovery tools, community of music lovers and the ability to take your music with you to other social platforms, Qloud is revitalizing the online music experience for consumers."
