Holy Bleep! Blip.fm is in Trouble
Blip.fm, a micro-messaging service that allows folks to tweet their favorite songs and create social interactions around music, is on life support, according to The Wall Street Journal. Fuzz Artists, the company behind Blip.fm, has cut two-third of its staff and is down to just four people. It was launched in June 2007. Jeff Yasuda, founder and CEO, tells the Journal that he is going shut down Fuzz.com but will be keeping Blip.fm going since the company has some money. But that money can’t keep the lights on forever. Blip was a hit with the early adopters, and there is a good chance it might attract some bargain hunters. Last.fm or Spotify could be good homes for this service. (Update: Apparently the cuts happened in October 2008, according to The Daily Deal.)
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Om, they reduced their headcount several months ago…
http://www.thedeal.com/techconfidential/the-note/the-note/blipfm-founder-discusses-new-f.php
Hey Om,
I’m not sure if you caught it on TechCrunch, but it seems to be this is old news:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/01/21/fuzzcom-hits-deadpool-spin-off-blipfm-alive-and-well/
Robin
@Paul
Funny how the WSJ story makes it seem that the layoffs just happened. Not sure how that happened – reporter/editor mix up or perhaps jeff told them so.
Anyway the fact of the matter is that it is situation critical for blip.
With all due respect and well-wishes in such a tough time as this, it never seemed like a very good idea to use “blip” to name a social media company that is entirely dependent on other social media companies.
Old news, and just when I start using it
PLOP!
XDDD
Is there any co-relation with the reduced headcount and the fact that Blip has been down for the last two days?
Morning of Feb. 14, the Blip.fm homepage is blank. A temporary technological problem or are the reports of Blip.fm’s survival greatly exaggerated? (With apologies to Mr. Twain.)
Hi there,
I believe the true reason FUZZ and BLIP are failing is not at all the result of a sour economy, but rather, the WAY fuzz was managed.
1. they had no real, original idea at conception of the business (they didn’t have a business plan)
2. it was funded by a former google employee who had a few million to waste (and he did) on his former secretary (at Google’s) husband, Jeff Yasuda
3. while the company may have had good intentions (help music and artists) they had no idea how to do this, mishired and blew up their team to maybe 20 people at one point
4. in the process, they screwed over many, lied and used many, and sexually harrassed at least one employee. She confided in me and chose not to sue the founder (billionaire) behind the company because it would not be pleasant or worth her time.
5. Thank the lord some employees did not pay fuzz 750 bucks to buy their allotted 250,000 shares of stock (given after only 3 months with the company). She KNEW that would be a lose lose gamblingsituation.
At the very least, Yasuda’s rich wife could keep the site up for all the artists who wasted time blogging on it, submitting material and other such activities. but I guess she doesn’t even think it’s worth 5 bucks a month, huh….
WOW!
now that is a success story, if i’ve ever heard one!
god bless anyone and all who were let down by CEO YASUDA and FUZZ ARTISTS, inc.
The question is: is yasuda’s wife “omg, i’m still driving my audi” i.e. she hadn’t yet bought a maserati in 2006…is she still driving that car or did she upgrade to personify her lucky but lame personality?
Comment on “old news”. Is it truly old if I came across if first on this blog vs. earlier ones? I get that others have already read it on other blogs and sites. To me, though it is new “news” because I didn’t know about the issues at Blip.
Appears to have been a temporary technological problem. Blip.fm is available once again.