Watch CBS News

CBS Pulls Last.fm, Radio Into Interactive Music Group; CBS Radio's Goodman In As Unit's President

This story was written by David Kaplan.


CBS (NYSE: CBS) is bringing all its online music units together under one roof, the company said. The new unit, the CBS Interactive Music Group, will house CBS Radio's roughly 100 music websites and online audio streams, as well as its various mobile apps. The creation of the interactive music group is meant to further formalize CBS Radio's relationship to music recommender Last.fm, which CBS Corp. bought for $280 million in May 2007.

The two sides had been heading in that direction for a while, taking steps here and there. For example, CBS Radio began adding its streams to Last.fm precisely a year ago. By establishing a single entity around both offerings, the company should be able to get more focused results from the acquisition. For one thing, it has an an attractive number of advertisers and other marketing partners: CBS says that at launch, the interactive music group has a reach of practically 40 million monthly uniques worldwide. As it moves ahead, the group will try to build on the kinds of deals that CBS Radio has struck in the past with AOL (NYSE: TWX) Radio and YahooLaunchcast. More after the jump.

CBS Radio's David Goodman has been tapped to serve as president of the new group. Goodman, a CBS Radio exec since 2002, has been president, Digital Media and Integrated Marketing for the radio division since December 2007. The interactive music group is intended to serve as "complement" to CBS Interactive's four other business units focused on technology and news; business; sports and games; and entertainment and lifestyle. Neil Ashe serves as President of CBS Interactive.  Goodman will report to Ashe and continue to work closely with Dan Mason, President and Chief Executive Officer, CBS RADIO, to implement and monetize the division's ongoing digital initiatives.  Goodman will continue to be based at CBS RADIO headquarters in New York.


By David Kaplan

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.