Grooveshark makes a stand against the music industry.

http://www.androidpolice.com/2011/04/18/grooveshark-stands-up-for-its-service-makes-android-app-available-online-and-sends-out-open-letter-to-the-music-industry/

by robee • 15 years ago

124 25 15 years ago

androidpolice.com

tintin• 15 years ago

Grooveshark did not make a stand against the music industry. They made a stand against Google and the RIAA. Seems like Google is afraid of the RIAA and just drops anything from the store the RIAA doesn't like.

Kylekramer• 15 years ago

As much as the RIAA has done terrible stuff and earned their status as a boogieman, aren't they the main representatives of the music industry? It isn't like the music labels are not the ones behind the RIAA's actions.

mdaniel• 15 years ago

I believe the subtlety there is that the RIAA represents the interests of their corporate members, which almost wholly differ from the artist's interests.

I also believe that is one of the main reasons they are labeled as "the boogieman," in addition to some pretty boneheaded PR moves.

chrislomax3• 15 years ago

I have used Grooveshark for a while now and I do enjoy what they have on offer. It's companies like Grooveshark that the record industry need. If they are doing what they say they are doing then they contribute heavily to the music economy.

I look at the actions of Google in two ways, they have either received a lot of complaints from the governing body and their hand was forced or they really are releasing their own cloud music store and they are getting rid of potential competitors.

I hope its the first reason as I really like Google and their ethics.

I have had personal dealings with the music industry though and how licenses work. In some cases they do not even check the legality of a music provider and presume they are acting illegally because their business model looks illegal. They are going against their own policy of innovation to get them out the mess they are in.

I hate to say it but I think if/when Apple/Google release their own version of the cloud music player, the rest are screwed anyway. They will find some way of making the software so integrated with their phones that it's pointless to use any 3rd party software like Spotify or Grooveshark.

yayadarsh• 15 years ago

Honestly, I'm surprised it's taken Apple this long to throw a similar feature packaged in with their iOS devices. My theory is that they are holding onto their iTunes business model for as long as possible before either purchasing or mimicking the streaming subscription-based style.

Google on the other hand us HOPEFULLY working on something great for their Android devices..

powerslave12r2• 15 years ago

Google must buy Grooveshark. That is the only logical way.

lyime• 15 years ago

Could I reach out to someone at Grooveshark here?

powerslave12r2• 15 years ago

Maybe, but why not mail them the reply as well?

invisible• 15 years ago

support@grooveshark.com

nddrylliog• 15 years ago

The title is misleading. Grooveshark has nothing against the music industry and never had.

They have something against vendors (like Google and Apple) prematurely pulling out their app from their respective markets/stores because of their ignorance of the law.

dhyasama• 15 years ago

The app was pulled due to a request from the RIAA which is essentially music labels.

mathiswrong• 15 years ago

I agree... I wrote the damn thing, and I can tell you that it's technology companies who this is aimed at. The RIAA stands up for what they believe to be their interests. However, there is no defense for Google -- a company that owns YouTube and is trying to launch their own competitive music service.

j2d2j2d23• 15 years ago

Maybe Google just doesn't want to fight the RIAA and prefers to fight Grooveshark. Maybe fighting the RIAA would open up a debate on the legality of YouTube, which Google also wouldn't want.

bennesvig• 15 years ago

I can see why Apple is against Grooveshark...people buy less music. I've been using Grooveshark for the last 5 months and went from buying about $20 worth of music a month to maybe $2-3.

aw3c2• 15 years ago

But I stopped pirating so much music because of it (deleted shortly afterwards if I did not really like it). Surely that means they do not lose any more revenue because of me. ;-)

dcosson• 15 years ago

I'm curious what Grooveshark does that allows it to be legal, where as p2p networks, youtube, megavideo, etc. routinely have to take down their copyrighted content. Anyone know?

flipbrad• 15 years ago

The answer is: Grooveshark routinely has to take down (unlicenced, non-fair-use) copyrighted content, just like the others. That's the cost of DMCA safe harbour compliance.

stianan• 15 years ago

How come they have so much content then? Is it because the copyright holders can't send them sufficiently detailed take-down notices fast enough?

hnsmurf• 15 years ago

I love it when startups at least attempt to drag businesses stuck in the old way of doing things kicking and screaming into the new reality.

robertmrangel• 15 years ago

What's stopping Grooveshark from creating an HTML5 webapp compatible with both iOS and android? Is the technology not ready?

j2d2j2d23• 15 years ago

HTML5 is part of the way there but many browsers still crap out over trivial stuff. For example, for a long time (still might be true), Chrome would go nuts if someone tried to play an audio link that produced a 404 error.

So, this isn't a comprehensive answer, but hopefully shines some light on where HTML5 actually is with regard to providing an experience similar to a native app.

Grooveshark makes a stand against the music industry.

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