It’s been a weird time for music streaming services. First, Apple put Trent Reznor in charge of rebuilding Beats Music from the ground up, then Jay-Z went on Twitter to defend his Tidal service. Now, Variety is reporting that Grooveshark is closing down due ongoing legal battles against a number of major record labels:
Founders Josh Greenberg and Sam Tarantino announced on their website that they are shutting down as part of a settlement agreement.
“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,” they wrote. “That was wrong. We apologize. Without reservation.”
Escape Media Group, the company that owned Grooveshark, have agreed to pay $75-million to labels Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and Warner Music Group if the site violates any terms of the settlement. As well, the company is being ordered to surrender all of its intellectual property, including Grooveshark’s mobile apps.
Before the settlement was met, Escape Media Group was faced with potentially owing hundreds of millions of dollars in copyright infringement.
To read Greenberg and Tarantino’s full announcement, head on over to Grooveshark’s website before it completely disappears.
(Via Variety / Grooveshark)
