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Guvera Ltd
Type of site
Music, Entertainment
Available in4
Dissolved2017
Headquarters
Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
Area servedAustralia, USA, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Thailand, Ukraine, UAE, Venezuela, Vietnam
Founder(s)Claes Loberg, Brad Christiansen
IndustryMusic
URLwww.guvera.com
RegistrationRequired
Users10,000,000+
Launched2008; 16 years ago (2008)
Current statusOperations ceased
Native client(s) onWindows Phone, Android, iOS

Guvera was an online music and entertainment streaming service founded in 2008. Guvera had agreements with the music labels in the regions where the product was available, which allowed for legal free music streams.[1] As of May 2017, Guvera has shut down all operations across all remaining Asian markets.[2]

Music streaming

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Guvera streamed music and entertainment for its users[3][4] and held licensing agreements with Universal Music Group,[5] EMI,[6] Orchard,[7] INgrooves,[8] IODA,[5] Mushroom/Liberation,[9] Shock Records, Believe Digital; in addition to the rights bodies APRA, AMCOS, BMI, RightsFlow,[10] Acodem, SESAC, Cash, Emmasacm, Extraphone, Peer, Prs/Impel, Filscap, First Music Publishing, Latinautor, Macp, Megaliner, National Music Publishing, Sabam, Sadaic, Sba, Sacem, Siae, Socan, Sonyatv, Sesac, Sgae, Solar, Warner Chappell, Universal Music Publishing, and Unisys.[11] Guvera distributed DRM-free MP3 downloads with bitrates of 256 and 320 kbit/s.[12] Guvera was also a targeted advertising platform,[4] which targeted ads at relevant music genres.[5] Content could be streamed via brand channels from within Guvera's platform, and the advertisers had a role in the selecting music content.[13]

Guvera was available on web browsers, iOS, Android and the Windows Phone.

History

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Guvera was initially funded by AMMA Private Investment out of Australia.[14] Guvera raised about $50m from its base of about 1000 smaller sophisticated investors primarily made up of accounting firms and other financial services businesses.[15] Guvera was incorporated in 2008, and launched beta in Australia February 2010,[16] and in the US March, 2010.[17][18] Guvera was initially released as a beta to a select group of users by invitation only.[19]

In August 2011, Guvera appointed Phil Quartararo as its Global Head of Music.[20] In September 2011 the comapany moved into new headquarters in The Rocket in Robina, Gold Coast, Australia.[13] In March 2012, Guvera created a mobile platform[21] and in December 2012 released mobile apps for IOS and Android in Australia.[22] An iPad app was then released in August 2013.[23] In March 2014 an agreement was signed with Lenovo to become its worldwide music partner, with Guvera's music streaming service pre-installed onto Lenovo mobile devices.[24]

In January 2015 Guvera acquired Blinkbox Music from Tesco.[25] It placed the company into administration in June 2015,[26] having exhausted Blinkbox's financial reserves. The company had bought Blinkbox Music as part of an agreement with Tesco that it would pay its employees a higher rate of redundancy payment if the business failed, which it did not honour.[27] In 2015 the company received a Gold award at Asia App Design Awards.[28]

In October 2015 the former employees of Blinkbox Music filed a £10m Employment Tribunal case against Guvera.[29] The Tribunal awarded them £3.5m in damages, which Guvera appealed. The Employment Appeal Tribunal dismissed the appeal in November 2017.[30]

In May 2016 Guvera won an international Gold at the Global App Design Awards.[31]

In June 2016 Guvera was blocked from a stockmarket listing.[32]

Guvera began operating in only 5 markets: Australia, India, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates and in July 2016, Darren Herft stepped down as CEO. Founder Claes Loberg assumed the position.[33]

On 27 July 2016, the company shut down its operations in its home market of Australia and reiterated its intentions to "focus all efforts in key emerging countries, such as India and Indonesia".[34]

On 27 June 2017 it was reported that a federal investigation in to Guvera had started.[35]

On 22 November 2017 it was reported that Guvera had lost their appeal against an earlier ruling, which found in favour of the former employees of Blinkbox Music.[36]

In January 2018, former CEO Darren Herft was questioned in a public hearing by the Federal Court of Sydney about the company's operation and failure.[37]

In October 2024 a two-part documentary on Guvera was released by the Australian Special Broadcasting Service.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Billboard.biz Q&A: Guvera CEO Claes Loberg". Billboard.biz by Glenn Peoples, Nashville. 10 April 2010. Archived from the original on 27 July 2012. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
  2. ^ "Tech in Asia - Connecting Asia's startup ecosystem". www.techinasia.com. Retrieved 14 July 2017.
  3. ^ Paul Cashmere (12 August 2011). "Former Virgin Boss Phil Quartararo Joins Guvera". Undercover. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  4. ^ a b "Exclusive: Guvera founder Claes Loberg, "We're not a music app" - The Music Network". www.themusicnetwork.com. 26 July 2016. Retrieved 1 August 2016.
  5. ^ a b c "Universal Music Group (UMG) Partners With Guvera Limited for 2010 Launch of Guvera.com". Universal Music Group, New York. 18 November 2009. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  6. ^ "Guvera Limited Signs Deals With EMI Music & IODA for 2010 US Launch". EMI Music. NEW YORK. 9 December 2009. Archived from the original on 27 July 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  7. ^ "Business Matters: Guvera, Google, EMI, Pitchfork and more". Billboard. By Glenn Peoples. 8 July 2010. Archived from the original on 1 October 2012. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  8. ^ "Ad-Supported Guvera To Launch in U.S. on March 30". Billboard.biz By Glenn Peoples. 19 February 2010. Archived from the original on 30 September 2012. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  9. ^ "Guvera Inks Oz Deal With Liberation". Billboard.biz by Lars Brandle. 2 June 2010. Archived from the original on 19 July 2012. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
  10. ^ "Guvera Taps RightsFlow For Publishing, Licensing, and Administration Services". RightsFlow. New York. 1 April 2010. Archived from the original on 9 April 2010. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  11. ^ "Ad-Supported Guvera To Launch in U.S. on March 30". Billboard.biz. By Glenn Peoples. 19 February 2010. Archived from the original on 30 September 2012. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  12. ^ Andrew McMillen (29 March 2010). "Aussie online service Guvera offers guilt-free MP3 downloads". The Vine. Archived from the original on 15 March 2012. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
  13. ^ a b "Aussie firm Guvera steps up operations as it takes on iTunes". The Courier-Mail. By Phil Bartsch. 30 September 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  14. ^ "Guvera Raises $20M For Stealthy Brand-Supported Music And Video Service". TechCrunch. By Robin Wauters. 18 January 2010. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  15. ^ "Music-with-ads start-up Guvera to list in US". The Australian. By Andrew Colley. 29 March 2012. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
  16. ^ "Ad-Supported Guvera Launches Down Under". Billboard.biz. 2 February 2010. Archived from the original on 24 July 2012. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  17. ^ "Ad-Supported Guvera To Launch in U.S. on March 30". Billboard.biz. 19 February 2010. Archived from the original on 17 February 2012. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  18. ^ "Queensland entrepreneurs take out top honours". Ernst & Young. 22 July 2011. Archived from the original on 17 February 2012. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  19. ^ "Free, Ad-Supported Music... With a Twist". Wired By Eliot Van Buskirk. 18 October 2010. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  20. ^ Paul Cashmere. (12 August 2011). "Former Virgin Boss Phil Quartararo Joins Guvera". Undercover. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  21. ^ "Australian online music start-up goes mobile". Australian IT. By Andrew Colley. 29 March 2012. Retrieved 30 March 2012.
  22. ^ "Australia's Guvera Offers Free Streaming Music On Android And iOS Devices". Gizmodo Australia. By Angus Kidman. 15 January 2013. Retrieved 10 May 2013.
  23. ^ "Music-streaming service Guvera looks beyond the digital jukebox with re-engineered User Interface and unlimited free content". Campaign Brief by Tyler Brockington. 24 October 2013. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
  24. ^ "Guvera scores grandstand streaming deal with Lenovo". The Australian by Supratim Adhikari. 4 March 2014. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
  25. ^ Glenday, John (26 January 2015). "Tesco sells Blinkbox Music to Guvera". The Drum. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
  26. ^ "100 staff laid off at Blinkbox Music Ltd as Guvera dumps UK office". Music Business Worldwide. 12 June 2015. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
  27. ^ Sweney, Mark (8 October 2015). "Ex-Blinkbox Music staff launch £10m legal action after Tesco sale". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 November 2015.
  28. ^ "Guvera awarded Gold at Asia App Design Awards 2015 — Music Asia". www.music-asia.com. Archived from the original on 10 September 2015.
  29. ^ "GUVERA HIT BY £10M LAWSUIT FROM EX-BLINKBOX UK EMPLOYEES". Music Business Worldwide. 8 October 2015. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  30. ^ "Guvera Ltd v Ms C Butler and Others: UKEAT/0265/16/DM - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 23 November 2017.
  31. ^ "Guvera wins International Gold at Design100 Global [app] Awards - Mumbrella". 18 May 2016. Retrieved 1 August 2016.
  32. ^ "Guvera float blocked from ASX".
  33. ^ "Guvera CEO Darren Herft Is Stepping Down". Billboard. 25 July 2016. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
  34. ^ Jones, Steve (27 July 2016). "Guvera to exit Australia but vows to press on in emerging markets". Mumbrella.
  35. ^ "Was Guvera the Bernie Madoff of the Music Industry?". Digital Music News. 27 June 2017. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
  36. ^ "Guvera fails to overturn ruling in dispute with former Blinkbox employees | Complete Music Update". www.completemusicupdate.com. Retrieved 17 January 2018.
  37. ^ "Former Guvera CEO Darren Herft reveals plans to launch Dragonfly Music as he is grilled in court over company's collapse - Mumbrella". Mumbrella. 19 December 2017. Retrieved 17 January 2018.
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