Simfy, once one of Germany’s most promising music streaming sites, is pulling out of the competitive market after failing to renew licences.
As reported by MBW in February, Warner Music Group was the first major recorded music company to pull its catalogue from the service.
It now appears that at least one of Sony and Universal allowed their licensing deals to expire in April.
Simfy is already encouraging its existing users to ‘register with our partner Deezer‘ – suggesting a transference deal has been struck between the pair before Simfy exits the market.
A note from Simfy to its consumers warns that “as of May 1, 2015”, Simfy will only offer a “very limited number of songs” due to licensing issues.
Simfy, with its core marketing promise of “every song, anytime and anywhere”, launched in 2010 and is also available in Austria, Switzerland and Africa.
It offered €5 and €10-per-month premium subscription tiers, as well as a free trial.
In 2011, Simfy announced that it had more than a million registered users each month, and growing.
But the entry of Spotify into Germany in March 2012 clearly hurt Simfy, which fell behind the Swedish platform and its main rival Deezer in the territory.
Revenue from streaming services grew 79% in Germany in 2014, according to data from the BVMI.
A further study suggested that 2.5m people in the country were subscribers to premium streaming services.Music Business Worldwide
