THE AGE http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/09/20/1095651247769.html -=-=-=-=-=-=-
Destra buy is music to Yahoo! ears By Garry Barker Technology Editor September 21, 2004
Destra, one of the more active but least public internet operators in Australia, has signed a deal with Yahoo! Australia that is expected to increase significantly the big web portal's grip on local small business.
Under the deal, Destra's wholly owned subsidiary Ozhosting.com will undertake the sale of domain names exclusively across Yahoo!'s Australian and New Zealand networks.
Aside from its domain name activities, Destra is heavily involved in providing music download services for the big record companies.
However, Yahoo!'s Australia and NZ managing director, Cliff Rosenberg, said the newly extended partnership with Destra did not involve setting up a music site. "Destra's domain offering is very compelling for small to medium businesses and (the deal) offers us a lot of up-selling and cross-selling capabilities in terms of our existing relationship with them."
However, Destra's music capabilities were a separate issue, he said. Yahoo! was a big player in internet music, but Australia would be "very much guided" in local decisions by the company's global operations.
Music is big business on the internet, and Yahoo!, now locked in various battles with Microsoft's MSN and Google, clearly intends to remain a major player.
At the weekend, Yahoo! said it had spent $US160 million ($A229 million) to acquire MusicMatch, one of the older online jukebox companies.
Earlier Yahoo! had bought Launch, another US legal music and video download system. Access to Launch has just gone live for Yahoo!'s subscribers in Australia and New Zealand.
Ownership of MusicMatch, however, brings Yahoo!'s capabilities closer to Apple's iTunes Music Stores, the current download champion in the US and Europe.
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You can also download a copy of the latest Aegis resaearch Blue Book report on Destra:
