Amazon creates "content acquisition" entity, but keeps mum on details

Is Amazon up to something new with movies or music?

Last week I ran across an entity called Amazon Content Services LLC registered in Washington in March of this year. It describes its business as "content acquisition" but provides few other details.

Interestingly, it lists among its officers Peter Faricy, vice president of movies and music at Amazon, and Aaron Martin, an Amazon VP who was listed in a past company press release as director of print and disc on-demand services.

Amazon didn't respond to an inquiry about Amazon Content Services. The online retailer has been boosting its digital offerings in recent years, with things like the Kindle electronic book reader, audio books, and music and video downloads.

Faricy is quoted in a press release today on Amazon's launch of 100,000 new "artist stores." The stores are centered around individual musicians, selling their CDs and MP3s and providing photos, biographies, discographies, and more.

It appears to be a move to more tightly integrate Amazon's retail and digital music offerings -- and keep people browsing longer with music information and trivia.

It will be interesting to find out if Amazon Content Services is the driving force behind the new artist stores or other initiatives that have yet to be announced.

About Eric Engleman

ERIC ENGLEMAN is senior technology staff writer for TechFlash and the Puget Sound Business Journal, covering online retail giant Amazon.com. Engleman tracks Amazon's increasingly complex business, spanning ecommerce, Kindle, cloud computing, and more. He's been covering technology and other industries for the Business Journal since 2003.

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