CÜR Media lay off all staff on the brink of bankruptcy
CÜR Media is close to bankruptcy after raising over $13 million to launch a music streaming service for “the casual listener”.
The CÜR Media offices are looking bare as the company has had to lay off all of it’s staff, whilst ex-CEO and president of UMG distribution Jim Urie resigned from his position as executive chairman. Urie took over as interim CEO at CÜR as the company was in $7.5 million of debt to music labels which it clearly couldn’t resolve.
CÜR Media weren’t even able to launch CÜR Music before their debts caught up to them. Despite having raised at least $13.56 million with some sources saying they raised as much as $21 million CÜR never managed a full release of their music streaming service.
CÜR’s proposed music streaming service was supposed to appeal to casual listeners with a far lower price point than competitors like Spotify. With subscriptions starting at $1.99 a month it’s difficult to see whether CÜR might’ve made any money even if they were able to fully launch the service.
In a SEC filing CÜR Media said:
As previously reported, we have been actively seeking sources of equity or debt financing to support our operations. To date, our efforts have not been successful, and we currently do not have sufficient cash to meet our operating needs. On August 16, 2016, we were forced to lay off all of our employees.
Going forward, we intend to seek, investigate and, if such investigation warrants, engage in a business transaction that presents an opportunity for our security holders. No specific transaction has been definitively identified, and there is no certainty that any such transaction will be identified, or consummated. If a business transaction is not consummated, we will need to cease operations.