Grooveshark's illegal music streaming service is extinct
Death's icy grip hit more than just Secret this week; Grooveshark is shutting down too. Last year, judges found the music streaming service guilty of mass copyright infringement for hosting illegal uploads of songs from Jay-Z, Madonna and others. As Recode notes, however, something a little more recent was the reason behind the actual closure. Escape Media (Grooveshark's owner) had a few options in court with Universal Music Group, Sony Music and Warner Music Group last week: either pay a possible maximum of $736 million in fines or accept a settlement with record labels to hand over its website, apps and patents.
Should Grooveshark violate this settlement, it'll owe the labels $75 million. As a mea culpa Grooveshark took to its website and suggested using Deezer, Google Play or Spotify among others in its stead. Curiously absent? Tidal. Regardless, it offers the following:
If you love music and respect the artists, songwriters and everyone else ho makes great music possible, use a licensed service that compensates artists and other rights holders.
In case you were wondering, yes, this means Broadcasts isn't going to happen.
[Image credit: Getty Images]
