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Guvera buys Blinkbox Music
By Chris Cooke | Published on Monday 26 January 2015
So, as expected, Guvera has bought Blinkbox Music from Tesco, giving the Australian streaming music company a slice of the UK market for the first time.
Tesco started shopping its Blinkbox-branded digital content services last year as the flagging retailer refocused on its core business. And while arguably the most interesting thing about Blinkbox was that it was a combined video, music and e-book platform, it became apparent earlier this month that the three elements of the business would be sold separately. And to that end the video-on-demand bit went to TalkTalk.
Guvera was then quickly tipped as the buyer for Blinkbox Music, which began life as We7. Interestingly, both Guvera and We7 started out as ad-funded download services before moving into the streaming domain. Since its original launch in Australia, Guvera has expanded into a number of territories, especially in the Asian market, though is yet to get established in Europe. Until now.
Confirming the Blinkbox deal, Guvera’s Global COO Michael de Vere told reporters this morning: “The acquisition of Blinkbox Music is an important new chapter in the Guvera story, adding significant firepower to our product – both in terms of technical expertise and an established and loyal audience in the UK”.
Quite how Guvera will use the Blinkbox buy to get its own platform going in the UK isn’t yet clear, though for the time being the message is “business as usual”. In a post on its website this morning Blinkbox Music wrote: “We’re delighted to announce that Blinkbox Music has been purchased by Guvera, a rapidly expanding global music service. Guvera is huge in Australia and nineteen other global markets and alongside Blinkbox Music will be making it even easier to find even more music you love”.
It goes on: “There are really exciting things to come, but right now the most important news for you is that your experience will stay exactly the same. All of your settings remain exactly the same – your username and passwords, your downloaded stations, your likes and dislikes and, also, all your playlists if you’re a premium user. For subscribers, although we will no longer be part of Tesco, please don’t worry about your Clubcard points, these will still be allocated as per our existing commitment to you”.
And finally: “We’ll still be available for free or as a great value subscription service and you don’t need to download a new app. Just carry on as you are, enjoy the same great service and be excited about much more to come – we are!”
