- Music
- 05 May 15
After a lengthy legal battle, the streaming service is gone
Following eight controversial years, music streaming service Grooveshark has closed down.
The service, based in Gainsville, Florida, was part of Escape Music Group, and had spent a good deal of the past few years dealing with legal issues brought by major labels; now, a settlement with Universal Music Group has seen the site shut down for good.
Escape have lived up to their name, though, in avoiding massive fines or financial settlements; a fine of $75m will apply if Grooveshark is found to infringe upon the music majors again.
In announcing their closure over the weekend, the team behind the site - including founders Josh Greenberg and Sam Tarantino - issued a statement in which they apologised unreservedly, and urged music fans to avail of licensed, legal streaming services.
"Today we are shutting down Grooveshark,” their letter begins. “We started out nearly ten years ago with the goal of helping fans share and discover music. But despite 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.”
“As part of a settlement agreement with the major record companies, we have agreed to cease operations immediately, wipe clean all the data on our servers and hand over ownership of this website, our mobile apps and intellectual property, including our patents and copyrights,” the letter continues.
“At the time of our launch, few music services provided the experience we wanted to offer and think you deserve. Fortunately, that’s no longer the case. There are now hundreds of fan friendly, affordable services available for you to choose from, including Spotify, Deezer, Google Play, Beats Music, Rhapsody and Rdio, among many others.”
“If you love music and respect the artists, songwriters and everyone else who makes great music possible, use a licensed service that compensates artists and other rights holders."