Murfie
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Music streaming, Digital media |
| Founder | Preston Austin, Matt Younkle |
| Defunct | November 2019 (initial shutdown) |
| Fate | Acquired by Crossies LLC in January 2020 |
| Headquarters | Madison , United States |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | John Fenley (owner after acquisition) |
| Products | Music streaming, CD and LP digitization, cloud storage |
| Owner | Crossies LLC (after January 2020) |
Murfie operated as a commercial platform for music streaming, originally headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin. Users engaged in buying, selling, and exchanging compact discs while also having the ability to stream or download their music. The service further allowed members to send physical CDs and LPs from their homes to Murfie for digitization and cloud storage.
The company gained recognition through coverage in prominent outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Fast Company, Time magazine, and National Public Radio.
History
Murfie was established by Preston Austin and Matt Younkle. Younkle exited the company in 2015, followed by CEO Rex Mangat’s departure in September 2019, shortly before the service discontinued operations.
In 2012, Murfie became part of the Techstars accelerator program. By 2014, it introduced lossless FLAC streaming compatibility with Sonos devices. The platform halted operations in November 2019 but resumed under new ownership in January 2020 when Crossies LLC acquired its assets. John Fenley is the proprietor of both Murfie and Crossies.
Following the shutdown, customers did not receive their physical discs back immediately; however, Crossies pledged to return collections to users who had entrusted their music libraries to the company. Of the approximately 750,000 discs held by Crossies, around 150,000 requests for returns were submitted.