Digital

Beyond Oblivion dies

By | Published on Friday 6 January 2012

Beyond Oblivion

The only thing we know for sure about Beyond Oblivion is that it definitely was not beyond oblivion. The ambitious digital start-up shut up shop last weekend before even going live, despite raising $87 million in financing, a big chunk of it from News Corp.

Beyond Oblivion, or Boinc as it was to be known, hoped to crack the all-you-can-eat business model that both Nokia and Virgin Media previously failed to get off the ground (though Nokia, to be fair, did actually launch Comes With Music, even if it was woefully shite).

The Boinc platform, which was pretty much ready to go and looked kinda funky, combined a scan-and-match locker, all-you-can-eat download store and personalised radio service. The plan was to offer all this seemingly for free to the consumer, though tracks would only be playable through the Boinc player, which would be available for pretty much any net-connected device.

Revenue would be generated through the sale of the Boinc software, mainly to tech companies which would bundle it in with devices, whether they be PCs, tablets or smart phones, though a direct-to-consumer package would also be available, again for a one-off fee, so that users could ‘Boinc-ify’ their existing devices.

It was a compelling if slightly tricky to describe service, but persuading consumers was never the biggest hurdle for Boinc, which needed both labels and device makers on board to launch. There were risks to rights owners if they participated in the Boinc project. First, if it was a success it could hit the revenue generating potential of both iTunes and the emerging streaming platforms. And second, the royalties labels would receive per play would depend on how much people used the service. But there was some interest, and Music Week reported in October that both Sony and Warner were on board.

It’s thought there was more resistance from the tech firms, who were nervous about adding a not insignificant mark-up onto their devices to pay for the Boinc service, especially in the current economic climate, and in the increasingly competitive tablet and smartphone markets where some operators are already beginning a price war.

In a statement Boinc founder Adam Kidron, confirming the venture was closing, blamed difficulties in “co-ordinating the diversity of an ecosystem” that included so many competing players, adding: “Beyond was always a tremendously grand ambition as the advances required by the record labels and music publishers were substantial, reflecting the breadth of the rights required to create a true digital music one-stop”.



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