Grooveshark is a dead shark — the streaming service that once troubled music industry executives in their sleep is no more.
Grooveshark announced the end on its website, following a long-running legal battle against the music industry's biggest recording companies, including Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group.
"We started out nearly 10 years ago with the goal of helping fans share and discover music," Grooveshark wrote in a goodbye post. "But 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."
The announcement came after Grooveshark's parent company Escape Media agreed on a settlement with nine recording companies. They complained that the streaming service violated copyright laws by ordering its employees to upload nearly 5,000 songs from various artists including Madonna, Eminem, Jay-Z and Bob Marley — knowing full well it was illegal to do so without a license.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Griesa said in a court order issued on Thursday that Grooveshark's actions were "willful" and made "in bad faith," and the only decision members of the jury need to make is the amount of damages per song to be awarded to the recording companies. The judge said the jury can award up to a maximum of $150,000 per song in damages — which would amount to a maximum of $736 million in total damages.
Under the settlement, Grooveshark does not have to pay anything. However, it has agreed to shut down operations, delete all copyrighted content and hand over all intellectual property, including its website, mobile apps, patents and copyrights, to the recording companies. Grooveshark is also encouraging its former users to switch over to licensed music streaming services.
"At the time of our launch, few music services provided the experience we wanted to offer — and think you deserve," Grooveshark said. "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 others."
Grooveshark, which was founded by Joshua Greenberg and Sam Tarantino, initially sought protection under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. It did so claiming it works like YouTube — where users upload the songs on their own accord. However, the court concluded in September that Grooveshark employees were liable for uploading copyrighted songs under direct orders from Greenberg and Tarantino.
Photo: Des Colhoun
