In the making for at least two years now, a new Music streaming platform is about to be launched worldwide. It's called Baboom and has been drawing interest because of its mentor, Kim DotCom - the New Zealand resident who was raided and arrested by the FBI in 2012 over piracy accusations pointed at Megaupload, a website that was since shut down.
He was the brain behind Baboom, but severed ties with the company last October because he felt his name was setting it back, stating "the music industry hates me." Baboom was set for a final release early this year, but that was postponed.
Now, media and entertainment lawyer Grant Edmundson serves as CEO, former Sony executive Tony Smith is the Chief Financial Officer and engineering is being done in northern Portugal, where costs are substantially lower.
"Baboom's launch is coming soon," chief technical officer Marco Oliveira tells Blasting News. "We have developed a complete career management service, which will provide artists and other industry professionals with the tools they should have been given a long time ago." What is he talking about? Baboom allows artists to give access to their music on their own terms, and manage how they get paid. Users, on their end, can discover new music and directly support the artists they love.
"Baboom's mission is to give the power back to artists and fans," he adds, criticising the notion that "everything is failing in the industry" and saying it's not. "There are labels and artists doing a great job and these are the ones Baboom has been working with and getting support from," Marco Oliveira adds.
The company has recently closed deals with record companies and promises more are to come.
"We intend to be the driving force that will turn the tide and bring about a fair deal for all involved."
Meanwhile, Apple is preparing its own streaming service, based on Beats, which it acquired last year. The company is expected to unveil pricing and features in June, when it hosts the annual developer conference in San Francisco, California.
