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Apr 12, 2001
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London-based streaming music service Bloom.fm is shutting down following the withdrawal of its main investment partner, TNT, a Russian television channel. TNT withdrew its funding following an organizational change, said VentureBeat.

In a blog post, the Bloom.fm team said the withdrawal of funding was a surprise and that the company has no time to find new investment.

bloomgameover.png
We'll keep this short because we're pretty shell-shocked.

It's game over for Bloom.fm.

Our investor, who's been along for the ride since day one, has unexpectedly pulled our funding.

It's come so out of the blue that we don't have time to find new investment. So, with enormous regret, we have to shut up shop.

This is a poetically crappy turn of events as our young business was showing real promise. Our apps and web player are looking super-nice and we had 1,158,914 registered users in a little over a year. Yep.

A massive thanks to everyone that helped us get this far. We're absolutely gutted. But it's been a real pleasure.
Earlier this month, it was reported that Bloom.fm had been blocked from using Apple's iAd advertising service to gain new users because it competed too closely with Apple's own iTunes Radio service, which is preparing to launch in the United Kingdom.

It's unclear whether the iAd blocking had anything to do with the removal of funding, but it was likely a blow to the company regardless.

Article Link: U.K. iTunes Radio Competitor Bloom.fm Shutting Down After Being Blocked From iAd
 
U.K. iTunes Radio Competitor Bloom.fm Shutting Down After Being Blocked From iAd


While chronologically correct, this is some quality link bait.
 
<Revoking this post, since I'm just going to get attacked for it>
 
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Antitrust suit imminent.

It's unclear whether the iAd blocking had anything to do with the removal of funding, but it was likely a blow to the company regardless.

Antitrust against who ?

Good. I hate to say it, since I'm a fan of Apple, but this really stinks of Apple putting pressure on the investor.

I didn't read anywhere where Apple put pressure on the investor ? Perhaps you can direct me to the link.
 
Never used their service or heard of them until just now. But they seem like nice guys so I feel bad for them.
 
Bummer. That must have been a hard letter to write. They did an extremely good, mature, job of it. I hope they do well in their next venture. Life is fully of squiggly twists and turns.
 
Good. I hate to say it, since I'm a fan of Apple, but this really stinks of Apple putting pressure on the investor.

Nope. It's not antitrust. Do you often see ads for CBS on Fox? Apple didn't allow them to advertize through iAd, they didn't block them from using other ad services on the App Store.

Besides that, seems iAd had little to do with their failure. With over a million subscribers, one ad service rejecting them wasn't the killer.
 
What a grossly misleading title.

Whilst I agree, it may have hindered them being barred from iAds, it's nothing on the same scale as having your primary funder pull out.

Does every story have to be directly linked to Apple?
 
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In a situation like this, can't other investors show up and invest in the company? It's not like they went bankrupt or anything, they just lost an investor, so it's not less promising than it was...
 
This title is so misleading. It makes it sound like the company was shut down because it was blocked from iAd. Besides, iTunes Radio isn't out in the UK yet, is it? I thought it was only in Australia and the US. You can't compete against something that isn't there.

That reminds me, release iTunes Radio in Canada Apple!
 
So, over 1 million users in the last year.
Why don't they have their own money to continue?
Surely they didn't have all their eggs in 1 basket and was relying on 1 company to keep it going?

Sounds like they saw the writing on the wall and decided to get out, claim bankruptcy and walk away with something before Apple wade in and decimate this sector and make them worth nothing.
 
As the primary developer of a previously available app store app called "VintApps 3.1.3", I know a bit how they feel. :(
 
Good. I hate to say it, since I'm a fan of Apple, but this really stinks of Apple putting pressure on the investor.

Are you kidding me?! These two completely unrelated events have been stitched together by a very irresponsible, tabloid reminiscent article title, and you have fallen for it.

Bloom loses its funding due to corporate restructuring at its only main investor, and somehow that equates to calls for an antitrust suit against Apple, who control a whole 15.5% of the global smartphone market?? That hardly constitutes a monopolistic position.

Seems pretty tinfoil hat to me, and shame on the editor for allowing such a misleading and ridiculous article title in the first place.

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Antitrust suit imminent.

And posts like these are why we should reimplement the down vote.
 
Whatever the story behind the shutdown I am disappointed to see Bloom go. I really liked their app for music discovery and the pricing model for rentals was fair.
 
I'm sure the if there is a correlation between the iAd issue it was because TNT didn't like the way Bloom.fm took to the internet to whine about Apple. Sure TNT didn't want any backlash from these cry babies if they were in a similar situation.
 
"It's unclear whether the iAd blocking had anything to do with the removal of funding..." but we're going to heavily imply it in the headline anyway. Awful link baiting.

The real headline here is: Bloom.fm shutting down after investor pulls funding.
 
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