Omnifone, the UK-based B2B digital music service provider which works with Guvera, Pono and others, has fallen into administration.
The news comes just two months after naming a new Chairman, which, according to the company, represented a “transition in business strategy.”
Doug Imrie’s appointment as Omnifone CEO in March was supposed to see ‘the development of unique, off-the-shelf B2B music products, to cater for new industry demands’.
At the time, Omnifone Ltd’s annual accounts for 2015 were more than a month overdue at the UK’s Companies House, and now we know why.
Its last available accounts for FY 2014 show turnover of £38.5m with a post-tax loss of £6.9m – widened on FY 2013’s net loss of £6.1m.
Omnifone rival 7digital has danced on Omnifone’s grave issued a statement following the news.
“We are sorry to see a respected competitor get into difficulties. Doing the heavy lifting to power digital music services requires scalable technology, fierce financial planning and a strong relationship with rights holders. It is a very tough space and none of these things can falter if you expect to succeed,” it reads.
However, the folks at 7digital are charging on, and sound keen to make clear they’re not headed for a similar fate.
The statement continues: “As music streaming adoption continues to grow, we continue to see a healthy pipeline of new businesses that want to enter the space.
“There remains a growing demand for the back end provision of rights, technology and industry intelligence to foster growth in the digital music business both in developed and new markets but we are under no illusions that this is an easy task.”
Music Business Worldwide
