Digital

Eircom to close its music service

By | Published on Wednesday 29 May 2013

MusicHub

Irish internet service provider Eircom last week quietly revealed that it will shut its streaming and download service MusicHub at the end of June.

No reason was given for shutting the service, which was created as part of an alliance with the Irish record industry that also resulted in the net firm agreeing to operate a three-strikes system, sending our warning letters to suspected file-sharers amongst its customer base with the threat of restricting their net access if they continued to access unlicensed content.

Of course since MusicHub launched in late 2010 the streaming music market in particular has become very competitive, and it’s highly possible Eircom’s own service has struggled to compete with other new entrants into that domain.

Whether the closure of the MusicHub – initially seen as the carrot in the ISP’s label-endorsed crack down on piracy – will also impact on the stick, ie the three-strikes initiative, remains to be seen, though that programme did originate in a legal settlement between the record companies and the net firm.



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