Internet media software and services provider RealNetworks Inc. said on Tuesday that it had completed its acquisition of Listen.com and that the number of subscribers for its on-demand songs jumped 13 percent from June. RealNetworks, which announced in April that it would purchase Listen.com, is jostling for position in the increasingly crowded market for online song sales.
RealNetworks is integrating Listen.com"s online music subscription service, Rhapsody, with its own RealOne subscription service, which offers video and games in addition to streaming music. Users listened to more than 12.4 million songs from the Rhapsody service in July, up 13 percent from June, RealNetworks Senior Vice President Dan Sheeran said. "We have already become the single biggest channel for Rhapsody," Sheeran said, referring to the number of users directed to Rhapsody"s service from RealOne.