Earbits

Earbits
Pricing model Free
Platforms Web, iPhone, Android
Format Stream, MP3
Restrictions None
Website http://www.earbits.com/

Earbits is a commercial-free music streaming service & music marketing platform that was founded in 2010.[1] The streaming service is available to consumers as a website in addition to clients for the iPhone, iPod Touch & Android mobile devices.[2] The music marketing platform is available to independent artists, labels and concert promoters who can bid for their songs to be played.[3] Earbits currently has 550 labels, 10,000 artists and 100,000 songs in its library.[4]

Earbits graduated from the startup accelerator program Y Combinator as part of the Winter 2011 class[5] and has received a total of 895k dollars in funding from Charles River Ventures, Geoff Ralston, Matt Mullenweg, Start Fund and private investors.[4][6]

In early 2013 Earbits launched their own virtual currency that allows consumers to earn on-demand access to streaming music by taking actions that benefit artists, such as joining a band's official fan page or mailing list.[7] Unlike Spotify and other on-demand music streaming services, Earbits uses Groovies as their currency to unlock on-demand features instead of having to pay real money for it.

Earbits has been called the "new breed of artist-focused Internet radio"[6] in times in which the online music business is hardly profitable.[8]

Earlier, Earbits announced that they had been shutting down their service after operating for over 4 years, on 16 June 2014, with the reason being stated as lack of capital funding to compete in the market.[9] They have since reported to have received funding from one of their strategic partners enabling them to continue their online services for an indefinite period.[10]

References

  1. ↑ "Forget $9.99 per Month, Earbits Trades Engagement for Tunes". VH1. 2013-02-28. Retrieved 2013-07-28.
  2. ↑ "Earbits Offers Fast, Completely Free Streaming Music". Lifehacker. 2013-06-14. Retrieved 2013-07-28.
  3. ↑ "Joey Flores of EarBits on This Week in Startups #133". This Week In Startups. 2011-04-15. Archived from the original on May 14, 2011. Retrieved 2011-06-27.
  4. 1 2 "Earbits Brings Its Indie Music Discovery Service To Android". TechCrunch. 2013-04-25.
  5. ↑ "Y Combinator Is Boot Camp for Startups". Wired. 2011-05-17. Retrieved 2011-06-27.
  6. 1 2 "Groovy, baby: Earbits' social currency lets indie music fans unlock on-demand streaming features". The Next Web. 2013-02-28. Retrieved 2013-07-28.
  7. ↑ "Earbits Launches Groovies". SFGate.com.
  8. ↑ "Why the online music industry is a mess". CNN Money. 2012-08-30. Retrieved 2013-07-28.
  9. ↑ Earbits shutting down their service.. Earbits Blog. Retrieved 12 June 2014.
  10. ↑ "Earbits is back Online". Earbits Blog. 19 June 2014. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
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