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Business News Deals Digital
Pono store goes offline after Omnifone sale
By Andy Malt | Published on Monday 25 July 2016
I don’t think I’ve seen the words “under construction” emblazoned across a website since the late 90s. So the website for Neil Young’s PonoMusic is making me feel quite nostalgic today – those words appearing in bold across its front page after its download store was taken offline. Until last week, content was provided to the high quality download store by Omnifone, but this source was cut off when that company was purchased out of administration (very possibly by Apple).
“One of our key infrastructure partners – Omnifone – has recently been acquired by a large company”, says a notice on the PonoMusic website. “An impact of this purchase is that all Omnifone’s supply relationships are being terminated, effectively immediately. Omnifone has been the exclusive content provider for PonoMusic”.
In light of this, the Pono download store is being restocked through a new deal with 7digital. “In early anticipation of this change, sometime ago we began, and subsequently concluded, negotiations to move our content provision to 7digital, the leading independent music content/services platform”, the statement continues. “This process of transition is now well underway, but not yet complete. Please rest assured that our contractual relationships with all the major music labels remain fully intact and will transition to our new platform”.
Access to the store was suspended last Wednesday, and it remains offline this morning, with no indication of when it might return.
