Music pirating streaming service Grooveshark has just shuttered its doors, never to open again. Today, all that remains is a contrite-hanging-head-in-shame message posted on a scrap of what used to be Grooveshark's web page. Bloggers explain why it all happened, and how they could see this coming from a mile away.
In IT Blogwatch, bloggers take a bite out of crime.
Today's humble blogwatcher is .
John Ribeiro finds it's easy to stream music legally:
Streaming music service Grooveshark has closed down as part of a settlement with major record companies that had sued it for many years for copyright infringement.
…
The music service, which started in 2006, is ceasing operations immediately and will erase all the copyrighted works of...record companies. MORE
Steven Musil tells us of the murky depths Grooveshark swam in:
In September, a New York federal judge ruled that Grooveshark co-founders Samuel Tarantino and Joshua Greenberg had uploaded almost 6,000 songs for which they had no licenses and that the two men had destroyed evidence of the uploads. At a maximum of $150,000 in damages per song, Escape could have been forced to pay more than $736 million in damages at a new trial that started this week. MORE
Straight from the shark's toothless mouth:
Today we are shutting down Grooveshark.
…
[Despite] best of intentsions, 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. MORE
There wasn't much water for Grooveshark to swim around in. Matt Rosoff explains:
In its early days, a lot of the music on Grooveshark was not licensed. Users were uploading the songs...but that argument has been tested on other services, like Napster, and so far it's never held legal water. MORE
Meanwhile, Duncan Riley bids a fond farewell:
In a decade where piracy was rampant, Grooveshark taught countless millions that there was an alternative way to listen to music, even if the offering wasn’t quite legal in and of itself.
…
Aspects of the service were also social, even more so than Spotify today, with functionality such as the ability to follow friends and see a history of what they’ve listened to; Spotify does some of this, but nowhere nearly as good as Grooveshark did.
…
While most of the internet had already moved on from Grooveshark, and due to its legal battles over the last few years it became a shell of its previous self due to an ever diminishing library of music, it will none the less be sorely missed, and fondly remembered. . MORE
You have been reading IT Blogwatch by Richi Jennings and , who curate the best bloggy bits, finest forums, and weirdest websites… so you don't have to. Catch the key commentary from around the Web every morning. Hatemail may be directed to @itblogwatch or itbw@richi.uk. Opinions expressed may not represent those of Computerworld. Ask your doctor before reading. Your mileage may vary. E&OE.