(UPDATED) "As CIMS approaches two years of selling digital music on thinkindie.com it has become evident that we cannot compete with the proliferation of pirated downloads or with the corporate interests controlling the legitimate digital market,"  Michael Bunnel, the Executive Director of the Coalition of Independent Music Stores told Hypebot regarding the February 15th shutdown first reported here yesterday.

"Our initial goal was to empower the independent music merchant by enabling them to participate in the digital marketplace and, despite having what we believe is a great model to accomplish this, we have been unable to gain enough traction to make this a sustainable venture," continued Bunnel. "The CIMS Board has decided to close the thinkindie.com site to continue focusing on our  core businesses, which remain healthy."