Indie Music Streamer Earbits Shuts Down
Earbits is shutting down today. The free streaming music service enabled artists and labels to "buy" plays, promote and connect with fans. While successful, the model was not generating enough revenue to continue. Despite today's closure, Earbits founder Joey Flores still believes that its a path that other music streamers must take.
"If there is anything that we want to impart on the industry about our experience it’s this," wrote Flores over the weekend. "If today’s streaming companies truly care about the creators of their product, they’re going to have to do more than talk about wanting to drive more value… Most companies understand that the types of solutions we built at Earbits are an inevitability for any successful and sustainable streaming provider, but those companies are just not prepared to make those sacrifices today."
Founded in 2010, Earbits had received $610,000 in funding from NXTP Labs, Bee Partners, Start Fund, Charles River Ventures, Geoff Ralston and Mark Friedgan.
All artists or labels who purchased Earbits marketing services can request a pro-rated refund by emailing the company's client services team by June 18th. More instructions have been sent to paying clients directly.
Thank you, Bruce. We’ve appreciated Hypebot’s objective take on the industry and our platform for four great years. Just fyi, we actually raised $1.7M in funding, and just did not announce it after the first seed investment of $600k. Thanks again.
-Joey
We were always happy to cover the interesting things that you guys created and having you a part of the great “new music industry” conversation. I hope you land well and somewhere that can utilize your knowledge.