Flipkart Flyte MP3 Store Is Shutting Down! Why?

@thebigk • Oct 25, 2024

Oct 25, 2024

1.6K

We received following email from flipkart that says the MP3 store, 'Flyte' is shutting down on June 17, 2013 (see below). It's been just over a year that Flipkart <a href="https://www.crazyengineers.com/threads/flipkarts-flyte-is-digital-media-download-store-download-mp3-legally.52544">Flipkart's Flyte Is Digital Media Download Store. Download Mp3 Legally!</a> the Flyte MP3 store which would allow users to download MP3 songs 'legally' for a price. We wrote about the launch last year and were very excited by the news. However, it looks like Flyte isn't a viable business for Flipkart. The company has decided to shut down the service and from June 17 onwards, new purchases won't be allowed. Your remaining Flyte balance will be refunded. After August 18, 2013; you will no longer be able to download your songs from your library.

Here's a copy of mail that we received -

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 â€“ and thank you for being a part of this journeyâ€¦

The Flyte MP3 team.

It's interesting to note that only MP3 downloads are being discontinued. Flipkart's digital store will continue to sell eBooks through the store and your Flyte App would continue to work for digital downloads. According to #-Link-Snipped-#, Flipkart official said -

â€œWe have realized that the music downloads business in India will not reach scale unless several problem areas such as music piracy and easy micro-payments etc 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.â€

Flyte was launched with over 150k albums across various national and international languages and over a million tracks with price starting at about Rs. 5 for a single track. The store allowed customers to choose individual tracks and build a personal collection.

Did the piracy play role?

We've always have had our own doubts about success of the digital library. In India, a lot of people 'think' that MP3 are officially free. We believe that Flipkart couldn't establish the culture against piracy in India. We'd love to hear your thoughts on this.

Why do you think Flipkart's taken the extreme step for Flyte? What's the real reason?

[Updating...]

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Ankita Katdare

@abrakadabra • May 29, 2013

😲 This is quite shocking. The last time I checked - Flipkart said it is already getting good traction with around 8,000 downloads DAILY. It is good to know though that it is not entirely shutting down FLYTE. I like its ebook interface, somehow. How about you, guys?
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Kaustubh Katdare

@thebigk • May 29, 2013

I'm not entirely 'shocked' at this update; but didn't expect it to happen so soon. Just a few weeks ago, Flyte offered everyone free download for about 10 days. I personally downloaded a lot of tracks from their store.

What's even more interesting is that they're going to 'revisit' the digital music opportunity at a later stage. The chances, however, of Flyte coming back are very thin!
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Anoop Kumar

@anoop-kumar-GDGRCn • May 29, 2013

Piracy is one thing but lots of sites providing legitimately listening the song for free with decent quality. Internet is going cheap day by day.
why one would have store song in mobile if they can listen over 3g from lots of choices like gaana, Saavn or Youtube.
I believe that if flipkart is coming back to digital library better they should offer high quality streaming audio subscription rather than download.
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Ambarish Ganesh

@ambarish-PQyoXg • May 29, 2013

The only time I ever used Flyte service is when they offered free music downloads on their anniversary. And with online music platforms like Gaana and Saavn streaming even the latest music for free 👍 , paying for the same didn't make sense.
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Kaustubh Katdare

@thebigk • May 29, 2013

...right. There are online streaming services but unless 3G rates go down significantly, I don't see those services getting 'really popular'. I do tune into those services; but I've a wired line connection that works nice. I'd not stream those services over 3G networks.

One 'theory' that I just heard is that Flipkart's running out of cash and investors are pressing hard on them to cut down on low-performing businesses. There were rumours that Flipkart's left with only a few months of cash to sustain their operations.

In any case, it's sad to see the service going down. It was an authentic source for me to download songs at 320 Kbps.
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Satya Swaroop Dash

@satya-swaroop-YDeBJM • May 29, 2013

I personally loved Flyte because of their huge library of songs. I came across many albums in my regional language which were very hard to find in good quality and with proper ID3 tags. I had even downloaded a few during the Rs. 5 sale. Sad to see it go.
According to me, that 100 albums a day gimmick went quite bad as users were just adding albums in their MP3 library and not downloading them (Flipkart took care of the problem later). Plus bulk downloading of songs was not easy due ever crashing Flyte Downloader desktop application .
Music steaming services like Saavn and Gaana make sense on broadband as many people have unlimited downloading plans but when you think of taking music on the go you still have to deal with costly 3G rates.
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Kaustubh Katdare

@thebigk • May 29, 2013

The following timeline will show Flyte's journey from arrival to upcoming downfall.

October, 2011: Flipkart finishes acquisitions of Mumbai based Mime360 - a leader in digital content delivery platform. CEO confirms that they're indeed planning to launch a digital music store, eBook store, gaming store and video library.

November 2011: The company introduces digital wallet so that customers can store 'money' online and make purchases on the go.

February 2012: Early appearances of Flyte leak as the company begins testing it. Official launch of the application follows in the next few days.

April 2012: Official Android app released which accesses the Flyte store. Company claims that the store's seen over 100k downloads in the first month of launch.

July 2012: Flipkart & NH7.in announce partnership to offer music streamiing & discovery platform. The same month also sees launch of iOS app for Flyte Music.

August 2012: Flipkart says that the music store is contributing to about 1% of its overall sales and has clocked 600k downloads in the first five months.

November 2012: Official eBook store launched through the Flyte app. The launch sees 64k titles on the shelves.

April 2013: YouTube India integrates links from Flipkart and Apple iTunes on select videos.

April 2013: Flipkart limits the wallet users to use it only on digital goods and not regular purchases.

May 2013: Flipkart announces the death of Flyte store and asks the users to download their purchases before August 2013.
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Pensu

@pensu-8tNeGU • May 29, 2013

It was bound to happen. You already have so many music streaming sites and of course, there is piracy. I was never convinced that there was a big market for an online music store, not until we come up with a stronger law against piracy. Same goes for ebook store.
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Anoop Kumar

@anoop-kumar-GDGRCn • May 29, 2013

I don't think piracy would have major role in killing flyte, and I believe that piracy can't be stopped if companies themselves supporting it.
Who would be using Windows or Photoshop if there is strong law, forget the law can't they have algorithms masters to cope with this?
Also, just for instance how Indians become so huge fan of Hollywood movies, Tv series and Songs. Before going to watch a Hollywood movies people ware already become fan of actors, directors and singers by using sharing sites. Now if a good movie is coming people are going to watch in theaters and Hollywood is getting benefit.
I don't think blaming piracy for it is right here.Even if piracy is not there people won't spent money on downloading songs there are already steaming services there. There is nice documentary about piracy is there <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2608732/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">TPB AFK: The Pirate Bay Away from Keyboard (2013) - IMDb</a>.

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Pensu

@pensu-8tNeGU • May 29, 2013

I am not saying piracy is the only factor, but it is a big factor. The reason people prefer windows and photoshop is because of they are good in performance and user friendly. The issue with these streaming services is that they dont let you download the songs. And of course, we know the condition of mobile internet in India. And here comes the piracy. You just go to these sites, download the music for free and you can listen to it any time. Yes, people wont spend money for music if they can get access to online music everywhere, but that's the point we are missing. We dont have internet everywhere ,well, actually good internet!
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danosongs

@danosongs-43jA5E • May 30, 2013

I would bet that it is the complexity of licensing issues and the difficulty in remaining profitable while also paying the labels. iTune and Amazon can do it and still make money only because of the massive volume.
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Kaustubh Katdare

@thebigk • May 30, 2013

danosongs
I would bet that it is the complexity of licensing issues and the difficulty in remaining profitable while also paying the labels. iTune and Amazon can do it and still make money only because of the massive volume.
Right. I think the music companies must have asked for commitment on revenues even before handing over music to Flipkart. That'd have pressurised the team a lot. I think it's the time that the record companies will have to figure out a way to make money off music through some other way. If it was Google, it'd put a 10 second advertisement in the song itself 😁
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