Neil Young’s Pono hits funding troubles

Neil Young’s high definition Pono music player and music service has hit funding difficulties, according to the rock star himself.

Young developed the Pono Player and its related music store to offer studio master-quality music as a superior alternative to low bitrate streaming and MP3 services, and even to CDs.

However, since attracting $6 million in Kickstarter funding early last year, things haven’t gone quite so smoothly.

While Young claims in a recent Facebook post (via Variety) that Pono has an “engaged and thriving online community,” and that the company has “put tens of thousands of players and hundreds of thousands of tracks in the ears of music lovers” without any advertising, it’s clearly struggling.

The company has had no CEO to head up and push its business interests beyond Young himself for more than a year, and the company’s plans to expand to other countries (chiefly the UK, Germany, and Canada) are being “restricted by a lack off resources.”

That latter point is Pono’s highest priority, claims Young.

Young also mentions that the company plans to launch speakers and headphones to accompany the Pono Player and service, as well as “even more exciting breakthrough products built to bring music to its rightful place in the twenty first century.”

Related: What is Hi-Res audio?

Last month, Young backed up his negative stance towards existing digital music platforms by pulling his entire catalogue from all streaming service.

“I don’t need my music to be devalued by the worst quality in the history of broadcasting or any other form of distribution,” he said. “I don’t feel right allowing this to be sold to my fans. It’s bad for my music.”