SOUNDBREAK DOWN

Soundbreak.com, which offered online, on-camera "jocks" playing targeted PoMo, hip-hop and electronica for a targeted audience, among other programming, has called it quits.

But early funder and majority owner Acacia Research, which jumped with both feet into online music during its "hot" phase, has reportedly moved on to greener pastures.

"Due to market conditions, we were unable to monetize the business plan or raise the additional capital necessary to sustain the company's long-term growth," reads a statement by Acacia Chairman/CEO Paul Ryan. "We concluded that the prudent business decision was to close operations and return the remaining capital to shareholders.

"Soundbreak was successful in building a growing audience, but like many other Internet media companies, it was unable to generate sufficient online advertising revenues," the announcement continues. "The dedicated employees of Soundbreak should be very proud of having created the first 24/7 live Webcast."

On 2/12, Soundbreak had announced its transformation into a "Network." Now former employees—including first-wave MTV VJ Mark Goodman, who served as a VP—will be doing some networking of their own.

"I'm disappointed by this turn of events," reflected former CEO/President Lisa Crane, who left Soundbreak in September 2000. "I'm proud to have built such a dedicated team and am also proud of what we accomplished.

"We broke a lot of new ground and gave life to a number of new concepts, including the creation of an extremely efficient customer acquisition model," Crane added. "We also got a lot of wonderful research relating to how consumers use the Internet for entertainment. I hope the things we built will be used by other companies as the Internet evolves."

The site opened its phones online shortly after announcing its imminent demise. Users have been phoning in to express their disappointment and appreciation.

Today's closing transpires exactly a year after Soundbreak's launch.