New Delhi: Flipkart will close its nascent music download service, Flyte, due to problems of music piracy and micro-payments. Flyte, which was started on February 27 last year allows people to download music at affordable prices. Flipkart claims the Flyte has about 100,000 customers. Flipkart has also sent an email to Flyte announcing that the Flyte MP3 store was shutting down (full text below).
Flipkart Head (Digital Media and Payments) Mekin Maheshwari said: "We set up Flyte MP3s a year back in what was an extremely nascent industry. The aim was to bring legal digital content to consumers in India." In a short span of time Flyte built a massive digital music catalogue at very affordable prices along with a loyal base of nearly 100,000 customers, he added.
"However, we have realised that the music downloads business in India will not reach scale unless several problem areas such as music piracy and easy micro-payments are solved in great depth. Which is why, we feel that at present, it makes sense to take a step back from Flyte MP3s and revisit the digital music market opportunity at a later stage," he said.
Text of Flipkart's email to customers announcing the news
Dear Flyte MP3 customer,
We hope you have enjoyed the music we have made available to you.
Unfortunately the Flyte MP3 store will no longer be operational after June 17, 2013. We request you to use your Flyte Wallet balance, if any, by that date. But if for some reason you are unable to do this then not to worry. We will refund the unused Flyte wallet balance to you.
If you would like to purchase any more music before the Flyte MP3 store shuts down, then please do so by June 17, 2013. All the MP3 files that you have purchased from Flyte on or before June 17, 2013 will continue to be available for download in your digital library till August 18, 2013. So do remember to download all your favourite music by then.
Dates to remember:
1. Monday, June 17, 2013: You will no longer be able to purchase MP3 files from Flyte after this date. The remaining balance in your Flyte wallet, if any, will be refunded to you.
2. Sunday, August 18, 2013: You will no longer be able to download your purchased MP3 files from your digital library after this date. So please download all your music by then.
So long - and thank you for being a part of this journey...
The Flyte MP3 team.
(With inputs from PTI)
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