Spiral Frog: RIP
And so ends the life of another would-be iTunes competitor.
Spiral Frog, a Universal-backed subscription music catastrophe, has apparently called it quits. Though the service was “free” (using an ad-supported model), it still suffered from the five things that pretty much all subscription-based music models share:
- A requirement for recurring activity
- Limited content
- Risk of losing music
- Strict usage controls
- Does not work with iPods
Needless to say, even without a monthly fee I was not impressed with the service.
The only thing truly unique about this one is that it could be argued you get what you pay for. Even then I think it’s a bad deal.
I visited the venture a couple months later when reports began surfacing that they were losing money hand over fist, and seemed to think a pro blogging campaign might save them:
Hmm, yes, good idea. Pummeling your users with ads isn’t working, so let’s get some of those Zune astroturfers to get on the Spiral Frog bandwagon.
Well, now I can pay my final visit (and respects) to Spiral Frog. They shut down Thursday:
A source close to the company told CNET News that SpiralFrog has ceased operations and assets have been surrendered to the company’s senior secured note holders.
Apparently, they went quietly and peacefully. Sadly (for them), I’m sure very few noticed. May they rest in peace.
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Some people are proclaiming that Spotify will do what Spiral Frog failed in achieving – kill off iTunes! It’s only available in Europe and it’s been getting great press; will it go the way of Spiral Frog? Or will this one actually work, make money by giving away music?.
THE BEST FREE DOWNLAODS ON THE WEB ,I NEW SOMBODY WOULD KILL IT
I think the “Rub” in your top five would be it doesn’t work with IPods. I mean T.V. hasn’t worked well for the last 50 plus years. The idea of paying the Artists from advertising dollars will never work!! Mr. Reestman if you had taken some time to discover the site
you may have found some great music, new and old that was available. At the same time you would know the people who created the music were being paid. I don’t think this site was meant to be an ITunes “killer”. Spiral Frog was a good idea that got bad press and was not well promoted. If ITunes is the only game in town we all lose… Competition is good. Thanks to all the employees of Spiral Frog. I discovered Elbow on your site and they are great.
Perhaps, because of the type of music I listen to, I was not so dissapointed in SprialFrog. I downloaded a lot of classical CDs and I will miss the site. It was easy to use, had good selection in classical and I don’t use an iPod.
Such a shame…
We just added you to my Music News Reader. Keep up the good work. Look forward to reading more from you in the future.
(PS, we just pushed out BETA 2 of OUR site)
Sincerely,
The Songnumbers Team
SpiralFrog was awesome. I had most of the obscure bands that I listen to. I’m sad that they closed down.
I found the site to be easy to navigate, easy to d/l from, and had an excellent selection of various music genres. Shame it’s gone, not sure where to d/l from now.
i hope one day spiral frog will be back the music that i got from them its hard to find but i think they will be back
I put their music on my ipod by removing their copy protection with an old version of tunebite, which is available for FREE!
I was so upset when I tried to download some songs yesterday and found that Spiral Frog had shut down. I loved it. I found opera, classical, and oldies I wanted. It was so easy to search and use. Please come back, Spiral Frog!