$11 Million Later, Songbird Shuts Down

Songbird, which launched in 2006 as an open source music player, will end business operations on June 28th. In 2011 Songbird was named one of Fast Company's  Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Music. Last June parent company POPI pivoted to music discovery with the launch of Songbird.me.

By leveraging Facebook's Social Graph and social media content made available by artists, Songbird.me created a simple platform for music discovery.  But as larger competitors from Apple to Spotify and Facebook to Twitter launched stepped up their own music discovery efforts. Songbird could apparently not build an audience. 

Most of the company's funding came from heavy hitters Sequoia Capital and Atlas Venture. Songbird had received $11 in total funding starting in 2006, with it's last major infusion, a $2.02 venture round in 2010.

Songbird CEO and President Eric Wiitman announced the closure in an overnight email to users and developers.