Music streaming service Grooveshark shuts down after years of legal troubles

Before Spotify, there was Grooveshark – and today, the latter is no more after the company posted a notice and apology letter on its homepage.

“We started out nearly ten years ago with the goal of helping fans share and discover music. 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 company wrote.

“That was wrong. We apologize. Without reservation.”

Grooveshark had been battling a six-year settlement with major record companies including Universal Music Group, Sony Music and Warner Music Group. The company has agreed to wipe its servers clean of any unlawful music files, and encouraged users to use subscription services like Spotify, Google Play, Deezer and Beats instead (no love for Tidal, eh?)

To make its positioning clear, Grooveshark made one final message in its letter, urging fans to compensate artists where credit is due.

“If you love music and respect the artists, songwriters and everyone else who makes great music possible, use a licensed service that compensates artists and other rights holders. You can find out more about the many great services available where you live here: http://whymusicmatters.com/find-music.”

➤ Grooveshark