While everyone has been talking about music streaming services like Spotify, Pandora and the redesign of Beats, Grooveshark has quietly operated without attracting too much attention. Or at least that's how it seems.
Grooveshark was a unique music streaming service that promised users the ability to stream any song from the internet on their computer for free. They did this by letting users upload music to their servers for free, rather than acquiring proper licenses and paying the fees. This model was popular enough to attract more than 35 million customers.
However, their business model didn't make record companies happy. Universal Music Group, Sony Music and Warner Music Group have been in a legal battle with Grooveshark's parent company, Escape Media, for more than six years. Now that the fighting is done and the music labels have won, Grooveshark is closing down.
"In a settlement with Universal Music Group, Sony Music and Warner Music Group, the company's founders are shutting down their website, apps and everything else they own, wiping their servers clean of music and offering a formal apology to the industry," reports Re/Code.
If users visit Grooveshark's website right now, they'll find a letter from Grooveshark founders Josh Greenberg and Sam Tarantino. "We started out nearly ten years ago with the goal of helping fans share and discover music," reads the letter, "Despite [the] best of intentions, we made very serious mistakes. We failed to secure licenses from rights holders for the vast amount of music on the service. That was wrong. We apologize. Without reservation."
Greenberg and Tarantino also implored their users to go to sites like Google Play and purchase their music to support artists.
