“They started out looking for financing, but after Apple bought LaLa, they began thinking that some of that pixie dust would sprinkle onto them," one source familiar with eMusic told the New York Post. And eMusic CEO Danny Stein did not disagree. “We're opportunistic stewards of capital," he said in an interview. “If an offer was made that created value for our shareholders, we'd listen to it."
But while eMusic's venture capital backers would undoubtedly respond well to a profitable payout, eMusic is not struggling or desperate to sell. Subscriber growth had been flat, but the recent addition of Sony to the catalog has reportedly led more positive numbers.
One option that eMusic is said to be considering is the addition of a music streaming following the lead of other companies including iTunes looking to follow the shift of music to the cloud. But what twist eMusic might put on its own streaming model that would attract new users remains unclear.
