Blinkbox Music

Last updated

Blinkbox Music
Blinkbox Music logo.png
Type of site
 Streaming media
Dissolved November 2013;9 years ago (2013-11)
Owner Guvera
Revenue Advertising, subscription
RegistrationFree, required for streaming, required to create playlists
LaunchedApril 2007;16 years ago (2007-04) (as We7)
May 2013;10 years ago (2013-05) (as Blinkbox Music)
Current statusDefunct

Blinkbox Music (originally We7) was a free, advertising supported, music streaming service, with over 12 million tracks available for streaming in the UK and Ireland, with content from the music industry, and most independent labels and distributors.

Contents

It was founded by former Genesis frontman Peter Gabriel and tech entrepreneur Steve Purdham, who had previously co-founded and built his previous company SurfControl PLC. Senior management included Gareth Reakes, Russell Chadwick and music executive Clive Gardiner.

Songs streamed on Blinkbox Music were accompanied by a short audio advert, or blipvert, which plays before each song. This was usually combined with a change in the advert on the page, with the intent of the audio advert drawing attention to the clickable advert.

We7 reached 500,000 users and 3.5 million tracks in March 2009 [1] and 3 million users and 6.8 million tracks in January 2011. [2]

In June 2012, We7 was acquired by UK retailer Tesco for £10.8 million [3] and was rebranded under the Blinkbox name in May 2013. [4]

Tesco sold the service to Guvera in January 2015. [5] Blinkbox Music was placed in administration in June 2015. [6]

In October 2015, the former employees of Blinkbox Music filed a £10m class action lawsuit against Guvera. [7]

History

We7 logo until 2013 We7-logo-web.gif
We7 logo until 2013

We7 originally launched as a music download service in June 2007, [8] [9] with 3 million tracks available to stream from launch. [10]

In October 2008, the site shifted focus to music streaming, [11] initially with content from Sony BMG, [12] including a change of design that integrated a persistent music player in the page, allowing the music to continue to play while users browse the site.

Since the full launch in November 2008, the site has had various promotions and exclusives. In February 2009 it partnered with NME to provide streaming music widgets on their article pages, [13] and in March it introduced an exclusive 'listening party' preview of Dutch singer Alain Clark's [14] debut UK single "Father & Friend", followed by an exclusive version of his album the week after.

In February 2010, We7 embraced the freemium business model by offering an advert-free service for a monthly subscription. [15]

At the end of September 2011, We7 changed from an on demand service to a music DJ service. This opened up a new premium service offer as well as a new logo and site layout. This stopped the free choice of songs that was previously the We7 service and opened a recommended music player instead which plays related songs and artists. Free users had a 50 limit of requests to add to the radio queue.

In March 2012, the company made a number of redundancies after the relaunched music DJ service led to a downturn in users and ad-revenue. [16]

In May 2013, the company announced that it would be changing its name to Blinkbox Music, within weeks. The subscription service closed at the end of November 2013.

In 2015, Blinkbox music was in administration after being bought by the Australian company Guvera. [17]

Features

The main feature of the site was for streaming full tracks without requiring registration. However as of 2011, users have to register for free to listen to a song, otherwise just a 30-second preview is provided. Registration is also required for advanced features such as making playlists, and purchasing music. Due to technical problems, however, a small minority of visitors were getting full tracks for nothing.

The site also had an editorial section titled the 'Magazine', which featured interviews with artists and occasionally runs competitions, such as the Metro Station competition. [18]

Financial performance

On 6 October 2010, We7 posted losses of £3.6 million. [19] The company claimed that market conditions, the collapse of the banking sector and the ongoing nervousness of the music industry caused the losses. The Guardian had reported earlier in 2010 that We7 had become profitable, using adverts to cover both running costs and payments to labels, which made it the first music streaming company to do so with UK operations. [20]

Mobile applications

On 18 February 2010, We7 launched its iPhone App. Only users with a "premium plus" account were able to use the application. There was some criticism of the app, because the premium plus account was not launched until 1 March 2010. Premium plus accounts are no longer necessary to use the app. The app has been rebranded and is now known as Blinkbox Music.

On 20 September 2010, We7 launched its Android app. Only users with a "premium plus" account are able to use the application, although there is a free 2 week trial when first using the service. [21] We7 later added a new update/new app to the Android Market which can be used by free accounts to access the radio station part of We7, but it still offers caching and users can cache stations; the service was called We7 Radio Plus. The app has been rebranded and is now known as Blinkbox Music.

Related Research Articles

SpiralFrog was a very early music streaming service based in New York City that launched in the United States and Canada on September 17, 2007. SpiralFrog offered free and legal music downloads, all supported by advertising, and was the largest site of its kind in North America. On March 19, 2009, SpiralFrog terminated operations due to loan recalls. While SpiralFrog was not successful in the end, it nonetheless helped shaped the digital music industry shift from the purchase to streaming models, and its ultimate revenue recovery

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Channel 4 (VoD service)</span> UK video on demand service

Channel 4 is a video on demand service from Channel Four Television Corporation, free of charge for most content and funded by advertising. The service is available in the UK and Ireland; viewers are not required to have a TV licence—required for live viewing and the BBC iPlayer on-demand service—when watching on-demand services. The service launched on 16 November 2006 as 4oD. The service offers a variety of programmes recently shown on Channel 4, E4, More4, Film4 and E4 Extra and shorts, alongside exclusive content such as programming from Adult Swim. However some programmes and movies are not available due to rights issues. The service was originally available without registration, but free registration was later required. The service is available without advertising on payment of a subscription, under the name Channel 4+.

Amazon Music is a music streaming platform and online music store operated by Amazon. As of January 2020, the service had 55 million subscribers.

7digital Group PLC is a British publicly listed company that offers access to music, tracking and reporting for clients. London-based, 7digital provides end-to-end music services for the fitness, social media, DSPs, and gaming industries with brands such as Barry's and Triller. Advertising Age described 7digital in 2008 as a British download store, while the New York Times referred to them as a digital music company. 7digital's Smooth Operations, Unique Production and Above the Title companies are now branded 7digital Creative, and produce content for BBC Radio 1, Radio 1Xtra, BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 3. In 2009 HMV bought 50% of 7digital. In 2019, the company replaced their second CEO, Simon Cole, who had replaced founder/CEO Ben Drury. In February 2023, it was announced 7digital had been acquired by the Santa Monica-headquartered B2B music licensing company, Songtradr.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shazam (application)</span> Music identification application

Shazam is an application that can identify music based on a short sample played using the microphone on the device. It was created by London-based Shazam Entertainment, and has been owned by Apple Inc. since 2018. The software is available for Android, macOS, iOS, Wear OS, watchOS and as a Google Chrome extension.

Deezer is a French music rental service that provides streaming of music, podcasts and video to users in more than 180 countries worldwide. Based in Paris since its 2007 founding, the company has been a subsidiary of Access Industries since 2016. Deezer is available via web (deezer.com) and a number of digital platforms, including Android, iOS, macOS and others.

Spotify is a Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 551 million monthly active users, including 220 million paying subscribers, as of June 2023. Spotify is listed on the New York Stock Exchange in the form of American depositary receipts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TalkTalk TV Store</span> UK-based video-on-demand service

TalkTalk TV Store was a UK-based transactional video-on-demand (VoD) service available on Macintosh and Microsoft Windows computers, games consoles, tablet computers and Smart TVs. Content is generally streamed, with downloading currently possible on Windows PC/laptops. The blinkbox brand had been extended to companion services offering digital music and books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ITVX</span> British online video-on-demand service

ITVX is a British ad-supported video-on-demand streaming service operated by ITV that launched on 5 December 2008, it predominantly offers content from the broadcaster, as well as some exclusive and licensed content. The service was known as ITV Player from its inception until 2015. On 23 November 2015, ITV gave the app and its website (ITV.com) a revamp, and the service was renamed to ITV Hub. As of August 2021, the service has at least 30 million registered users.

A music streaming service is a type of streaming media service that focuses primarily on music, and sometimes other forms of digital audio content such as podcasts. These services are usually subscription-based services allowing users to stream digital copyright restricted songs on-demand from a centralized library provided by the service. Some services may offer free tiers with limitations, such as advertising and limits on use. They typically incorporate a recommendation engine to help users discover other songs they may enjoy based on their listening history and other factors, as well as the ability to create and share public playlists with other users.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WiMP</span>

WiMP was a music streaming service available on mobile devices, tablets, network players and computers. Music in WiMP was streamed using the AAC+ file format at a bitrate of 96 kbit/s or the AAC file format at a bitrate of 320 kbit/s if the high quality streaming option was selected. WiMP also offered a HiFi-product with FLAC/ALAC. WiMP has since been merged with Tidal.

Guvera was an online music and entertainment streaming service founded in 2008. Guvera had agreements with the music labels in the regions where the product was available, which allowed for legal free music streams. As of May 2017, Guvera has shut down all operations across all remaining Asian markets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">8tracks.com</span> Internet radio and social networking website

8tracks.com is an internet radio and social networking website revolving around the concept of streaming user-curated playlists consisting of at least 8 tracks. Users create free accounts and can browse the site and listen to other user-created mixes, as well as create their mixes. The site also has a subscription-based service, 8tracks Plus, although this is currently only available to listeners based in the United States and Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Claes Loberg</span>

Claes J M Loberg is a Swedish born Australian technology entrepreneur and designer who founded the music streaming and downloading service Guvera. in 2008, and Zero Party Deep Data Platform, Bounty Media in 2019, funded by SOSV in Singapore.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bloom.fm</span>

Bloom.fm was a London-based mobile-focused music service which combined free streaming genre and artist based radios, music discovery tools, a local library player and a catalogue of over 22 million tracks. The service allowed users to 'borrow' songs, making them available for offline playback. The maximum number of stored tracks was determined by the subscription level.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Google Play Music</span> Online music locker and streaming service, 2011–2020

Google Play Music was a music and podcast streaming service and an online music locker operated by Google as part of its Google Play line of services. The service was announced on May 10, 2011; after a six-month, invitation-only beta period, it was publicly launched on November 16, 2011 and shut down in February 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gaana (music streaming service)</span> Indian commercial music streaming service

Gaana is India's largest Subscription Based commercial music streaming service with over 200 million monthly users. It was launched in April 2010 by Times Internet and provides both Indian and international music content. The entire Indian music catalog was available to users worldwide however recently the music library is restricted based on geolocation of subscribers. Post this the music catalog is severely limited for subscribers outside India. Gaana features music from 21 Indian languages including the major languages such as Assamese, Bengali, Bhojpuri, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Urdu, Odia, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Maithili, Malayalam and other Indian regional languages.

The following is a list of on-demand music streaming services. These services offer streaming of full-length content via the Internet as a part of their service, without the listener necessarily having to purchase a file for download. This type of service is somewhat similar to Internet radio. Many of these sites have advertising and offer non-free options in the style of a digital music store.

SoundayMusic is a geosocial networking mobile music streaming app that enables users to listen to and track the music their friends and neighbors are playing in real time. The service provides over 32 million tracks and allows users to create "music stations" choosing between a mix of up to three artists, or choosing a music genre. In the free version users can create up to 10 personalized stations, look at the stations that are being played nearby in real time, and interact with other users through instant chat. The paid, premium subscription removes advertisements and allows users to create an unlimited number of stations. It was launched in 2009> by Soundtracker, and as of December 2014 the service had 1.3 million registered users. Soundtracker is available for iOS App Store, Android Google Play, Windows Phone Store, Windows Store, Google Glass, BlackBerry World, Samsung Apps, Amazon Appstore, Nook, and Samsung Smart TV, in 10 languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Chinese Simplified, Japanese, Korean and Russian. Soundtracker is a registered trademark.

YouTube Premium is a subscription service offered by the American video platform YouTube. The service provides ad-free access to content across the service, as well as access to premium YouTube Originals programming produced in collaboration with the site's creators, downloading videos and background playback of videos on mobile devices, and access to the music streaming service, YouTube Music.

References

  1. ↑ "We7 hits back | News | Music Week". Musicweek.com. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  2. ↑ "We7 moves beyond UK with Irish launch". Mediaweek.co.uk. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  3. ↑ Halliday, Josh (14 June 2012). "Tesco buys We7 for £10.8m". The Guardian.
  4. ↑ "blinkbox music - try it now!". Blinkbox Music. 31 May 2013. Archived from the original on 8 March 2016. Retrieved 28 March 2014.
  5. ↑ Glenday, John (26 January 2015). "Tesco sells Blinkbox Music to Guvera". Thedrum.com. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
  6. ↑ Barber, Lynsey (11 June 2015). "Former Tesco asset Blinkbox Music goes into administration less than six months after sale". Cityam.com. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
  7. ↑ "GUVERA HIT BY £10M LAWSUIT FROM EX-BLINKBOX UK EMPLOYEES". Musicbusinessworldwide.com. 8 October 2015. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  8. ↑ "Peter Gabriel takes sledgehammer to music downloads (again)". Theregister.com. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  9. ↑ "BBC News - 'Rock star pioneers free music site'". 5 June 2007. Retrieved 6 January 2010.
  10. ↑ "Which is the best music streaming service in the UK?". Pocket-lint.com. 27 July 2018. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  11. ↑ "We7 shifts focus from free downloads to free streams". Musically.com. 14 October 2008. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  12. ↑ Wray, Richard; Gibson, Owen (10 March 2008). "Sony joins We7 to make music free". The Guardian.
  13. ↑ "We7 announces NME.com tie up | News | Music Week". Musicweek.com. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  14. ↑ "New on We7 - 23.03.09". Archived from the original on 12 April 2009.
  15. ↑ "We7 Launches New Premium Subscription Service". Archived from the original on 30 December 2010.
  16. ↑ "RadioWorks appoints We7's Barker as business development manager".
  17. ↑ Barber, Lynsey (11 June 2015). "Blinkbox Music goes into administration". Cityam.com.
  18. ↑ "Metro Station Competition Page". Archived from the original on 26 March 2009.
  19. ↑ "We7 posts £3.6 million loss". The Telegraph. 6 October 2010. Retrieved 28 March 2014.
  20. ↑ Guardian, We7 shows ad-funded model can work for online music
  21. ↑ we7 launches full Android app with free trial Archived 25 January 2011 at the Wayback Machine .
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.