Liquid Audio Inc was a US

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated software documentation, documentation and data (computing), data. This is in contrast to Computer hardware, hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. ...

company based in

Redwood City Redwood City is a city on the San Francisco Peninsula in Northern California's Bay Area, approximately south of San Francisco, and northwest of San Jose. Redwood City's history spans its earliest inhabitation by the Ohlone people to being a po ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. Formed in 1996, Liquid Audio developed a major standard, multiple software clients, and a client/server media distribution system for streaming and downloading audio on the Internet. Along with RealNetworks'

RealAudio RealAudio, or also spelled as Real Audio is a proprietary audio format developed by RealNetworks and first released in April 1995. It uses a variety of audio codecs, ranging from low-bitrate formats that can be used over dialup modems, to high-fi ...

(on the

RealPlayer RealPlayer, formerly RealAudio Player, RealOne Player and RealPlayer G2, is a cross-platform media player app, developed by RealNetworks. The media player is compatible with numerous container file formats of the multimedia realm, including MP3 ...

), Liquid Audio was one of the two emerging online audio standards in the 1990s. The company's founders – Gerry Kearby, Robert Flynn, and Phil Wiser – focused on professional audio quality and copyright security to differentiate the offer. The company was a pioneer in enabling copy-restricted media distribution, working closely with record companies and publishing rights agencies such as ASCAP, BMI, The Harry Fox Agency, in the United States, and various other agencies around the world. To represent the industry's copyright interests, Liquid Audio, RealNetworks and a host of other companies formed the Digital Media Association to negotiate copyright fees for the

Digital Millennium Copyright Act The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a 1998 United States copyright law that implements two 1996 treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). It criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or ...

. Liquid Audio's solution was ultimately supplanted by RealAudio, and others such as Microsoft's

Windows Media Player Windows Media Player (WMP) is the first media player (application software), media player and media library application that was developed by Microsoft for playing sound reproduction, audio, video and viewing images on personal computers runnin ...

. In 2002, Microsoft bought Liquid Audio's

DRM DRM may refer to: Government, military and politics * Defense reform movement, U.S. campaign inspired by Col. John Boyd * Democratic Republic of Madagascar, a former socialist state (1975–1992) on Madagascar * Direction du renseignement milita ...

patents. After the failure of talks on a takeover by Alliance Entertainment, in January 2003, Liquid Audio was acquired by Anderson Media and was renamed to Liquid Digital Media. Liquid Digital Media, Inc. focused on custom services for Internet media delivery, including video and audio encoding in WMA, WMV, and MP3 formats; windows DRM encryption; metadata management; image processing/conversion; content hosting/storage; distribution and fulfillment; activity and sales reporting; and physical/digital tie-ins. On August 28, 2011, Anderson Media/Anderson Merchandisers announced the immediate and effective closing of Liquid Digital Media, ending a partnership with

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

References

Defunct digital music services or companies Defunct online companies of the United States {{US-internet-company-stub