Days after it was released, Aurous, a music streaming application for Windows, OS X and Linux, is already on the front pages due to a copyright infringement lawsuit filed by music labels that are part of the Recording Industry Association of America. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Warner Bros., Universal Music Group and Sony.
Aurous' user interface is undeniably similar to that of Popcorn Time, which is a popular application that allows the streaming of bootleg copies of movies and TV shows through torrent. Hence, Aurous is now branded as the "Popcorn Time of Music."
The RIAA lawsuit alleges that Aurous, which allows users to search and play audio tracks, intends to become a music repository by aggregating copyrighted content from legal music streaming services and in the future, profit from it using ads. Moreover, the RIAA's complaint also claims that Aurous is sourcing music tracks from piracy portals, such as MP3Skull and Pleer, which is similar to what Popcorn Time is doing — providing an interface so pirated copies of the tracks can be streamed and not require any downloads.
"This service is a flagrant example of a business model powered by copyright theft on a massive scale," an RIAA spokesperson says. "Like Grokster, Limewire or Grooveshark, it is neither licensed nor legal. We will not allow such a service to willfully trample the rights of music creators."
RIAA hopes to secure the same fate for Aurous as the other applications that were mentioned. However, Andrew Sampson, Aurous' developer, does not intend to go down without a fight.
Don't worry, we're not going anywhere, empty lawsuits aren't going to stop the innovation of the next best media player.
— Aurous (@aurousapp) October 13, 2015
Hey @RIAA @UMG and everyone else, we challenge every CEO to an arm wrestling competition, we win you drop your empty suit. — Aurous (@aurousapp) October 13, 2015
Sampson refutes the RIAA's claim and explains that the application is legal because it does not source from illegal websites and aggregates content through YouTube, Soundcloud and the 120 public APIs that is currently embedded within its codes. Moreover, Sampson argues that the implementation of the peer-to-peer protocol, BitTorrent, is necessary to hasten the process of populating search results.
"You can play content that you already own -- we use licensed content APIs for that," Sampson explains to Billboard. "We use BitTorrent only as a means to save bandwidth for the users, so we're not overloading other sites."
Sampson argues that he is not making money off the application and the ad monetization that the RIAA claims does not exist. However, Aurous is currently treading a similar path to that of Music Messenger, which shut its services voluntarily after getting pressured by the music labels.
The RIAA is suing Andrew Sampson for $3 million.
