Guvera is hanging by its thumbnails prior to Thursday’s meeting with creditors and investors. But that hasn’t stopped the troubled music streamer from launching a strange charm offensive anchored by two unusual YouTube videos..
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International music streaming service Guvera is expected to face as many as 150 creditors and 3000 investors at the first meeting of parties owed money since the Australian Securities Commission refused the float the company’s desperately needed IPO. The creditors range from employees owed compensation to the Australian tax commission.
In a move to cut it’s monthly $5-6 million cash burn by 2/3rd’s, Guvera is reportedly preparing to cut staff by at least 60, according to ChannelNews.
Guvera Execs Attempt To Go On The Offensive
Despite teetering on the edge of a full shutdown, Guvera execs have taken to YouTube to make the case for the company posting two unusual videos.
Looking more like a member of Lynyrd Skynyrd than a tech executive, founder Claes Loberg argues that Guvera offers a music service based on a very different premise than Spotify or Apple Music. “We’re such a completely unique beast in what we are.,” says Loberg. “We’re a model targeting the advertising industry. We’re a model that actually allows advertisers to exist in a world where people just click past everything, and we’re a model trying to monetize the 95% of people in the world that get free content”.
Guvera is what most consumers want, he continues: “They want free content, they don’t want to pay for a subscription service. It’s the same people who have been receiving free-to-air television, free-to-air music since the 60s.” But wait… weren’t hundreds of millions willing to pay for cable TV during the last decades; and aren’t they paying for Netflix and Hulu now?
Chairman Phil Quartararo used the opening of his video to remind viewers that he used to run a failed big label. “I left EMI for a reason”, he states, arms crossed for emphasis. “I felt like the record companies were not listening to the consumers. In the retail business, the number one rule is, you listen to your customer, and I felt like the record industry had stopped listening to their customer, so I knew it was time for me to leave running the big companies”.