mflow was an online social music
streaming
Streaming media refers to multimedia delivered through a network for playback using a media player. Media is transferred in a ''stream'' of packets from a server to a client and is rendered in real-time; this contrasts with file downl ...
, recommendation, and
mp3
MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany under the lead of Karlheinz Brandenburg. It was designed to greatly reduce the amount ...
-retailing service. It allowed users to search, stream, and recommend music free of charge.
Company background
History
Founded in 2008, mflow was a social music-sharing and downloading service, developed by Digital Distribution Networks in London.
The service was first launched as a limited beta, open only to invited users in December 2009. The first iteration of the service was a software client that ran on users' machines. In August 2010, mflow started developing an HTML5-based internet application. On December 3, 2010, mflow launched the first beta version of their web-based service with an expanded feature list.
Music sales and rewards system
Uniquely, mflow rewarded users for recommending music. 20% of the retail price of tracks and albums sold on mflow were redistributed back to the recommending user(s) as “mflow credits”.
Catalogue
As of January 2011, mflow had a catalogue of approximately five million tracks. Label partners included:
Universal
Universal is the adjective for universe.
Universal may also refer to:
Companies
* NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company that is a subsidiary of Comcast
** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of N ...
,
Sony
is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...
,
PIAS,
Beggars
Begging (also known in North America as panhandling) is the practice of imploring others to grant a favor, often a gift of money, with little or no expectation of reciprocation. A person doing such is called a beggar or panhandler. Beggars m ...
,
Ingrooves,
Skint Records
Skint Records is a Brighton and Hove based dance music record label owned by JC Reid, Tim Jeffery and Damian Harris. It was created as a sublabel of Loaded Records, also founded by Reid and Jeffery. Along with Wall of Sound, the label was a ...
,
Domino Recordings,
Ministry of Sound
Ministry of Sound or Ministry of Sound Group is a multimedia entertainment business based in London with a nightclub, shared workspace and private members' club, worldwide events operation, music publisher (popular music), music publishing busin ...
,
IODA
The Orchard Enterprises NY, Inc., doing business as The Orchard (''also known as'' The Orchard Music), is an American music and entertainment company, specializing in media distribution. It is a division of Sony Music Entertainment, based in N ...
, and many more.
Closure
As of January 2012, the site was closed for business. A message on the company's home page stated: "Over the past few months we've been working on a top-secret new project... we can't share this grown-up mflow with you until we're confident it's better than anything you've used before." It was later revealed the site would be closed for good to make way for a new mobile streaming app titled
Bloom.fm.
Directed by Thong Nguyen and Oleg Fomenko, the company posted public accounts in 2010 recording total liabilities of £7.6 million, and -£5.4M in net assets.
References
British music websites
British social networking websites