winamp

Digital audio business Radionomy has acquired the both media player (Winamp) and radio platform (Shoutcast) from AOL. Radionomy is an online radio business based in Belgium. The purchase is a cash and share deal, worth between $5 million and $10 million, with AOL taking a 12% stake of Radionomy in the process. AOL paid some $80 million for Nullsoft, owner of Winamp and Shoutcast, in 1999.

“Winamp is a top independent player that gives millions of people the best player functionality available,” Alexandre Saboundjian, Radionomy’s CEO, said in a statement. “Its role is clear in the future evolution of online media, we plan to make the player ubiquitous, developing new functionalities dedicated to desktop, mobile, car systems, connected devices and all other platforms.

Adding Shoutcast to Radionomy’s existing assets will make the company one of the biggest players in the radio streaming business, hosting some 60,000 radio stations, or roughly half the online radio stations on the market today.

Meanwhile, Radionomy intends to offer Winamp’s media player just as it is today — with access to those 60,000 stations, but also playback ability for 60 audio and video formats; 6,000 add-ons like skins and plug-ins; and availability in 16 languages.

In both cases, this will be a volume play for Radionomy. Among its other assets is the TargetSpot audio ad network, and the plan will be to use both Shoutcast and Winamp to increase TargetSpot’s inventory, and as everyone knows advertising is a game of scale.

Radionomy has goals for the product developing new Winamp apps for iOS and Android that will be released later this year.