Here’s a thought: a digital music service providing unlimited free downloads to buyers of a smartphone, with the licensing costs absorbed into the price of the device itself. That’s the business model of hot new startup Yonder, whose chief executive Adam Kidron says that… Oh, wait. Yes, that’s the same Adam Kidron who was boss of Beyond Oblivion, the well-financed (and well-hyped) music startup that collapsed before it could bring a similar model to market in 2011. The New York Times reports on his return with colleague Jim Heindlmeyer, claiming to have been “humbled” by the Beyond Oblivion debacle and pitching Yonder Music as an alternative to streaming services. “What we’re saying is that we need a model that attracts the other 98 percent of people who are not paying,” he tells the newspaper. Kidron is hoping to prove this model by selling 10,000 Android smartphones with the company’s app preloaded, before looking for bigger deals.
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Tools: Kaiber
In the year or so since its launch, AI startup Kaiber has been making waves,…