Så tabte de kampen om ophavsret. Musik-tjenesten Grooveshark lukker efter 10 år med brugerdelt musik.
Grooveshark blev lanceret for knap 10 år siden, som en tjeneste hvor brugerne kunne dele musik med hinanden. Sådan en slags musikkens svar på YouTube, her med MP3-filer istedet.
Men de fik ikke ordnet det juridiske, og kørte tjenesten uden godkendelse fra pladeselskaberne.
Resultatet blev at Grooveshark-tjenesten siden dens begyndelse været overhældt med sagsanlæg fra pladeselskaberne, fordi brugerne indbyrdes kunne udveksle ulovlige mp3-filer.
Siden forsøgte Grooveshark i højere grad at agere en legal streaming-tjeneste, der overholdt den amerikanske copyright-lovgivning. Dette ved eksempelvis at straks at fjerne enhver fil som pladeselskaberne ønskede taget ned.
Nu har de indgået forlig, og en del af det forlig er at Grooveshark lukker og det hele overdrages til pladeselskaberne.
Deres “afskedsbrev” kan læses herunder.
| Dear music fans, Today we are shutting down Grooveshark. We started out nearly ten years ago with the goal of helping fans share and discover music. But despite 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. That was wrong. We apologize. Without reservation. As part of a settlement agreement with the major record companies, we have agreed to cease operations immediately, wipe clean all the data on our servers and hand over ownership of this website, our mobile apps and intellectual property, including our patents and copyrights. At that time of our launch, few music services provided the experience we wanted to offer and think you deserve. Fortunately, thats no longer the case. There are now hundreds of fan friendly, affordable services available for you to choose from, including Spotify, Deezer, Google Play, Beats Music, Rhapsody and Rdio, among many others. 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. It has been a privilege getting to know so many of you and enjoying great music together. Thank you for being such passionate fans. Yours in music, Your friends at Grooveshark |
