According to TIME, music streaming service Grooveshark may have just met a bigger competitor than Spotify. That competitor would be Universal Music Group, who has sued Grooveshark over illegal uploads on the service. One hundred thousand of them, to be exact.
Universal is one of the big music labels, and has the ability to make or break the streaming market that includes companies like Rdio, MOG, Spotify, and Grooveshark.
The lawsuit by Universal requests maximum damages of up to $150,000 for each song uploaded to the service without its permission. The label even names Grooveshark CEO specifically as an uploader. Apparently the leader of the company put at least 1,791 Universal songs on Grooveshark without letting them know first.
While it’s impossible that Grooveshark could pay-out over $15 billion dollars if found guilty of each offense, it’s more likely that the service will be forced to shut down entirely. We’ve heard of artists removing music from streaming services, but this is the first time a major label has gone after one of them in such a big way over music it didn’t approve.
Universal is seeking a permanent injunction against Grooveshark, which could make even its latest re-design a waste of time. Grooveshark’s VP of external affairs, Paul Geller, said to CNet that the company has not seen the complaint yet, and won’t comment until that happens.
Crime doesn’t pay. Or stream.
Universal Music is fully owned by Vivendi, which as a publicly traded parent, has a current market capitalization of around €19 bn. Universal accounts for around 15% of its revenues and 3% of its operating income. Grooveshark should better lead a hostile takeover to buy 51% controlling stake of Vivendi. :)) http://www.vivendi.com/vivendi/Shareholding-structure
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LikeMichael Hofweller well my comment was somehow ironic to illustrate the copyright owners' irrational demands. grooveshark may go down, anothershark will sure come. In 5 years time Universal may be history. :)
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LikeIf you have a spare half an hour or so I can highly recommend a read through Robert Fripp's blog, wherein the master musician recounts his efforts to keep King Crimson's music off Grooveshark. Includes many email exchanges between Fripp and Grooveshark's lawyers/management.
Enjoy: http://goo.gl/l6QTx
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LikeIt's rather difficult to track through all the accounts of clipping his rabbit's nails, what he ate for breakfast, etc. interspersed with the correspondence you refer to. It appears that his arguments with Grooveshark are: "I'm with King Crimson, and we order you to take down our music." Grooveshark says, "We licensed it from your label." Fripps says, " We didn't give you permission." rinse repeat ad nauseum...James BarnesAm I getting it right, or did I misunderstand?
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LikeWyatt Best Thank you for taking a look at Fripp's blog. Yes, you're most of the way there on the circular legal argument which basically boils down to 'oh yes you did' and 'on no I didn't.' There the buck surely stops with Robert Fripp as he owns all the rights to the music in question.
There are two other points that make King Crimson an interesting case:
1) Grooveshark's policy is to remove tracks from streaming service when they receive a takedown request from a rights holder. They require a separate request for each track and each individual upload of a track. For an artist this makes the job of keeping unlicensed music off Grooveshark incredibly difficult. It's _your_ problem, not Grooveshark's. Notably, following a relatively brief exchange of correspondence, Fripp was able to have his music removed from Spotify.
2) Some folks might believe that King Crimson are prog rock dinosaurs - I wouldn't like to argue against you if that were your opinion. Conversely, in consideration of King Crimson the enterprise, Fripp has certainly grasped Kevin Kelly's 1000 True Fans dictum by the horns. Want to buy a soundboard recording of pretty much every concert he's ever played with King Crimson or as a solo artist? Fripp's got you covered, offering FLAC and MP3 downloads by the dozen - with special deals for subscribers. This is a man who knows his base and he's working it. Isn't that the entrepreneurial startup culture we're meant to find laudable?
Other artists get litigious against their fans (Metallica); or refuse to make their music available for digital download (ACDC); or display a breathtaking sense of entitlement in their refusal to acknowledge new business models (Don Henley, John Mellencamp) - not Mr. Fripp.
And yes, I warned you about the time suck, sorry I didn't mention the whimsy and rabbits.
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LikeJames BarnesWyatt Best However, if Grooveshark really did license King Crimson from a label, how can Fripp object? I thought artists pretty much relinquished all control to their label.
<reading, searching, reading>
On doing more reading, it appears that the King Crimson has a nonstandard label deal. Fripp personally retains all copyrights, and so they don't fit Grooveshark's model for dealing with things. Am I getting this right?
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LikeConversation from Twitter
gohnjanotis sucks. the new design actually looks like a nice improvement.
dondy Nooo! I love grooveshark :(
Riya_pc Haha. Where are you reading all this useless, oops typo.., I meant useful info :D
meg_rao how many days did the boring looooooong office hours turn musical coz of shark? tsk, and u call this "useless" #iamhurt
Riya_pc Oh and FYI, today is the #TATW400 8hours, non-stop ;)
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sof_j Lo sé, me tiene consternado, bueno no tanto así, pero no puedo imaginarlo, nooooo! ja!.
sof_j Lo sé, me tiene consternado. O.O
ssampige prateekwaghre I spoke to my friend who works for Grooveshark and he mentioned that it was baseless. Lets see..
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jrantillon Hi Jayson :) How's the baking coming along? Ya know, there's nothing stopping you from sending some my way! Haha ;) xox
laemo Well, it is their content, right?
ClockRoots yes. And the same is available on other sites like Mog, Rdio, Spotify etc.
laemo Which have valid agreements and permissions for the streaming.
ClockRoots not all of them do. I'm pretty sure. Grooveshark was the big daddy of all streaming services. Back to Google Music now.
laemo Dude. If spotify's tied up with Apple, I am willing to bet that there is no piracy. iTunes is signed on to all major labels.
ClockRoots Spotify's not signed anything with Apple as far as I know, they have agreements with the labels directly.
laemo nofuckingway!
atulkarmarkar just google and found that out. If it's true then they really deserve it.
#WTF :( RT deepikah :( RT @wwwireframe: Grooveshark to be shut down soon, end of another era after Limewire... http:\/\/t.co\/0aXjaaXL
NateBoat More in-depth description of the case here. Essentially a GrooveShark employee Fucked up: http:\/\/t.co\/kljUO3M1
Mucx Ouch!
TeraEuro legal, illegal, scheissegal...