Streaming site La La has announced that they’re pulling the plug at the end of the month. They’ve sent an email to members saying thank you and good night. The email says: ‘In appreciation of your support over the last five years, you will receive a credit in the amount of your Lala web song purchases for use on Apple’s iTunes Store. If you purchased and downloaded MP3 songs from Lala, those songs will continue to play as part of your local music library.Remaining wallet balances and unredeemed gift cards will be converted to iTunes Store credit (or can be refunded upon request). Gift cards can be redeemed on Lala until May 31st.’
There’s speculation that La La’s new owner, Apple Inc, who bought the site for a disputed amount in December 2009, may have shut it down to use the staff and technology to launch their own Apple branded streaming site. Some reports reckon La La cost Apple $80 million, however TechCrunch said it was much lower – $17 million. A financial statement filed by one of the minority owners, Warner Music Group, suggests that it wasn’t even that much.
