Social.FM: Deader Than Disco
Social music networks are like college. You all meet up there for a while, make friends, maybe a few enemies, share all sorts of things, and then scatter to other places and make new friends. The overriding constant is that nobody has any money in either place. Social.FM, which until recently was known as Mercora, was launched in 2005, and on July 31st, shut happened.
To our Valued Customers,We regret to inform you and apologize for this inconvenience, but Social.FM will be shutting down the system on July 31st, 2008.The Company is unfortunately no longer in business and therefore cannot continue its service to you.Regards,Mercora, Inc.
Microsoft inked a deal with Mercora to offer the service through the Mobile2Market Program, but as usual, Microsoft has the reverse Midas touch for anything to do with carrying entertainment around with you -- despite getting pretty good reviews for it. Royalty rates for webcasting music were raised last year, and advertising rates for such services were pretty lousy to begin with. It's a testament to how these services come and go that the service was shuttered on July 31st, and everybody only noticed it was gone days later. So goodbye, Social.FM, we hardly knew you; it remains to be seen if anybody can make enough money webcasting music to avoid joining you eventually.
To our Valued Customers,We regret to inform you and apologize for this inconvenience, but Social.FM will be shutting down the system on July 31st, 2008.The Company is unfortunately no longer in business and therefore cannot continue its service to you.Regards,Mercora, Inc.
Microsoft inked a deal with Mercora to offer the service through the Mobile2Market Program, but as usual, Microsoft has the reverse Midas touch for anything to do with carrying entertainment around with you -- despite getting pretty good reviews for it. Royalty rates for webcasting music were raised last year, and advertising rates for such services were pretty lousy to begin with. It's a testament to how these services come and go that the service was shuttered on July 31st, and everybody only noticed it was gone days later. So goodbye, Social.FM, we hardly knew you; it remains to be seen if anybody can make enough money webcasting music to avoid joining you eventually.
