UK streaming music startup Bloom.fm shuts as investor drops out

London-based streaming music firm shuts, weeks after it is banned from Apple's advertising service

UK streaming music service Bloom.fm has shut down following the shock departure of an investor. The firm was seen as a competitor to Spotify, iTunes Radio and Last.fm.

“Our investor, who’s been along for the ride since day one, has unexpectedly pulled our funding,” the company said in a blog post today. The company was backed by Russian broadcaster TNT.

Bloom.fm had received almost 1.2m registered users in just over a year, it said.

The site received a blow earlier in April, when Apple said that it would be banned from its advert network because it’s a competitor to the company’s iTunes Radio, which also shuffles songs based on users’ preferences.

Bloom.fm offered free radio stations based on user’s favourite genres and listening habits. Users could then pay up to £13.99 to be given the option to ‘borrow’ songs, to keep locally.

iTunes Radio was launched in the US in September, and though Apple said it would bring it to the UK in ‘early 2014’, the feature remains unreleased.