Exfm, a music site that collects music from MP3 blogs and other sources around the web, offering a one-stop listening post, announced its upcoming closure. The site and all its brand extensions (mobile apps, developer API) will be removed this Monday.
Unlike other recent service shut-downs (Turntable.FM, Bloom.FM, East Village Radio), the cost of music licensing is not mentioned as a reason. Users knew something was up in December, when the Exfm blog posted: “The sad news is that we are no longer going to be able to keep the Exfm website and suite of apps up and running.” At that time, the founders noted that the ground had shifted under Exfm:
“Four years ago the music landscape was very different. Spotify and Rdio didn’t exist in America. There was no Google Music or iTunes Radio. Soundcloud and Bandcamp were just getting started. Today, music flows from all places on the web. It’s easy and affordable to get and it just keeps getting better.”
In this week’s brief announcement, the mood is uplifting, with a promise of a new project in the future: “While we don’t have anything to announce today, we are confident we will very soon […] we are very excited for what’s next and believe we will ultimately provide you with the best music service in the seven kingdoms.”