Well, that was embarrassing. UBC Media’s Cliq mobile/radio music download service is shutting down today, a year after the radio outfit invested £1.6 million in the project, UBC said, confirming FT.com’s speculation. Launched in December, Cliq let users buy songs played on partner radio stations via a mobile Java client - tracks were downloaded to PC, though there were plans to offer download to radios via a partnership with DAB maker Pure.

The serendipity of instantly purchasing a track being played on radio is a holy grail for a music industry still not offsetting physical sales decline with digital growth and for a radio industry that has watched its ad revenue dip to about two percent of UK spend. Cliq had been used by GMG, Global Radio, Chrysalis and Emap (LSE: EMA) stations but others, like GCap, have fallen back on the tried-and-trusted iTunes affiliate links for their download efforts.

UBC’s website says Cliq was “the biggest single project we are engaged in at the moment”. FT.com said closure would cost £1.1 million but would save £1.3 million per year. The final impairment UBC will incur will be £2 million. UBC last month agreed to sell its core commercial division to Global Traffic Network for £15 million.

UPDATE: Cliq is denying that its service has “totally collapsed.” Content and commercial director Pascal Grierson told Billboard Magazine that the mobile platform was indeed being shut down after funding had run out, but that Cliq will allow radio listeners to buy and download music through the internet, through Wi-Fi connections, and on DAB radio sets.

Grierson said the mobile platform “failed through no fault of our own.” He said, “Launching anything Internet-connected on mobile networks can be a problem. Mobile operators can’t unite on the protocol required so that handsets can use the same (internet) connectivity.”

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