Blackstone Audio Buys AudioGo US

[tubemonkey]

Here's an interesting turnaround. After selling Blackstone Audio to AudioGo last year, Blackstone's former owners buy it back; along with all US operations of AudioGo. Meanwhile, UK-based AudioGo is in dire straits and files for administration (bankruptcy).

Note: Downpour is the consumer arm of Blackstone Audio.

Blackstone Audio Buys AudioGo U.S. Arm

After being acquired by U.K-based AudioGo at the end of 2012, Blackstone Audio has turned around and bought all the U.S. assets of AudioGo in a move that effectively ends the nine-month merger. AudioGo’s U.K. assets in Bath are not part of the deal, which gives Craig and Michelle Black, cofounders of Blackstone Audio, total ownership of the American business.

The unwinding of the deal was largely due to problems in the U.K.-side of the business. The U.K. trade publication The Bookseller reported that the U.K. division has suspended operations due to "financial challenges" while it looks for an investment or a sale. According to Josh Stanton, president and CEO of Blackstone Audio, the U.S. arm of AudioGo has been profitable. Since the December 2012 merger, Stanton, who had been responsible for the combined North American Blackstone-AudioGo business, had been overseeing the integration of the two companies, a process that included the downsizing of its North Kingstown, R.I. office. Stanton said that with the new deal, he expects to retain a recording studio in Rhode Island and a New York City office in addition to the Blackstone headquarters in Ashland, Ore. The purchase includes all AudioGo brands and will bring the Blackstone audiobook catalogue to about 9,000 titles. The addition of AudioGo, “grows Blackstone by about 50%,” Stanton noted. Stanton expects that the AudioGo name will be phased out on titles over the next year or so.

[CRussel]

Also note that most Blackstone books are also on Audible, or at least have been. I'd hate for that to change. (I do not use Downpour, primarily because ONE audio book commitment is quite sufficient for my budget.)

Hmmm. Downpour is DRM-Free. I like that. Anyone got a promo code for membership? PM me if you do!

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Also note that most Blackstone books are also on Audible, or at least have been. I'd hate for that to change. (I do not use Downpour, primarily because ONE audio book commitment is quite sufficient for my budget.)

Hmmm. Downpour is DRM-Free. I like that. Anyone got a promo code for membership? PM me if you do!

Blackstone is both a publisher and a retailer (Downpour). The acquisition of AudioGo shouldn't have any impact on it's previous relationships, other than strengthening both its publishing and retail catalogs.

No promo codes, but you can buy any one audiobook for $6.95 (limit one).

[tubemonkey]

Received this email from Downpour yesterday afternoon:

Important News about the AudioGO Website

Blackstone Audio, Inc., has broken away from AudioGO and will no longer be maintaining AudioGO.com. Since AudioGO UK will be ceasing operations in the immediate future, we strongly recommend you download all books in your AudioGO library as soon as possible to avoid losing access to your purchases. Many of your favorite AudioGO titles will be available on Blackstone's consumer site, Downpour.com.

Access Your AudioGO Library Here

We apologize for any inconvenience. If you have questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact customer care at 1-855-369-6768 or customercare@downpour.com.

Sincerely,

Team Downpour.com

Since Downpour now owns AudioGo US, why aren't they migrating all of those purchases over to Downpour? Seems a bit tacky to not do so.

Again, let this serve as a reminder to "liberate" all of your digital purchases and to store copies on physical storage media you own. You never know when a store will go out of business and the new owners won't care about your previous purchases.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Blackstone is both a publisher and a retailer (Downpour). The acquisition of AudioGo shouldn't have any impact on it's previous relationships, other than strengthening both its publishing and retail catalogs.

No promo codes, but you can buy any one audiobook for $6.95 (limit one).

Thanks for the code, I'll use it to give them a try. Looking at their catalog, however, makes me leery. They seem to have a lot of series where there are only one or two books in the series, but not the full series. That just doesn't work for me. OTOH, they have a lot of books read by Donada Peters/Nadia May/Wanda McCaddon. She's one of my all time favourite readers.

But just as an example of the issues - they have a fair number of Ian Rankin's Rebus books, but some are abridged (NOT interested) and they are read by at least 4 different readers. And they still don't manage to have them all.

Looking at Tor books, I see David Weber's Safehold series. Let's see... Hunh. They have two out of six books in the series, with two narrators. And not even the first book in the series. Compare that with Audible.com, and all six books are there, though admittedly with 3 or 4 different narrators. (One of which overlaps with the Downpour site, but the other does not.)

[Downpour.com]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Received this email from Downpour yesterday afternoon:

Since Downpour now owns AudioGo US, why aren't they migrating all of those purchases over to Downpour? Seems a bit tacky to not do so.

Again, let this serve as a reminder to "liberate" all of your digital purchases and to store copies on physical storage media you own. You never know when a store will go out of business and the new owners won't care about your previous purchases.

Hi, Thanks for helping us get the word out about this. The reason we cannot migrate AudioGO customer libraries is because Downpour does not (yet) have all of the titles from AudioGO in our database. The transition to Downpour happened differently and more suddenly than was expected. Since the AudioGO website is under the control of the UK division, which has now filed for administration, it is unclear how long that domain or any content hosted on it will remain available. We at Downpour hope that all AudioGO customers will take possession of the content they have purchased. We would love for all the AudioGO content to be immediately available but due to the time consuming process of adding thousands of titles, and copyright issues related to the UK/US split, all the AudioGO titles will not be available on Downpour immediately. We absolutely care about our customers’ previous purchases, but because of the complex situation with the UK business (which is now totally separate from the US business), we do not have access to customer data or titles.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Downpour.com

Hi, Thanks for helping us get the word out about this. The reason we cannot migrate AudioGO customer libraries is because Downpour does not (yet) have all of the titles from AudioGO in our database. The transition to Downpour happened differently and more suddenly than was expected. Since the AudioGO website is under the control of the UK division, which has now filed for administration, it is unclear how long that domain or any content hosted on it will remain available. We at Downpour hope that all AudioGO customers will take possession of the content they have purchased. We would love for all the AudioGO content to be immediately available but due to the time consuming process of adding thousands of titles, and copyright issues related to the UK/US split, all the AudioGO titles will not be available on Downpour immediately. We absolutely care about our customers’ previous purchases, but because of the complex situation with the UK business (which is now totally separate from the US business), we do not have access to customer data or titles.

Thank you for clarifying this matter. Might I suggest that you modify your announcement with a brief statement as to why you can't migrate those purchases over. That would've precluded my commentary.

I wish you well during this transition.

[tubemonkey]

oops... wrong thread