Grooveshark is dead. You remember Grooveshark, right?
Just a week after a judge ruled that the music streaming service made “willfull” copyright violations, Grooveshark is shutting down and offering a formal apology.
“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 [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. That was wrong. We apologize. Without reservation,” says a post on the site.
The move satisfies a settlement with Universal Music Group, Sony Music and Warner Music Group. Grooveshark is wiping its servers clean and handing over control of its website and apps.
According to Re/code, compliance in this means Grooveshark’s parent company Escape Media will not be forced to pay the labels the $736 million that the judge proposed as a possible liability.
Grooveshark not only apologized, but suggested that people go pay for Spotify, Beats Music, or some other paid streaming service.
“At that time of our launch, few music services provided the experience we wanted to offer and think you deserve. Fortunately, that’s 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,” says the Grooveshark team.
So long, Grooveshark.
Image via Thinkstock
