As part of a violation of copyright infringements and many years of legal battle, music streaming site has shut down. On April 30, 2015, Grooveshark shut down as part of a settlement between the service and Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and Warner Music Group. It was accused of illegally sharing almost 5,000 songs which meant that, if it had been found guilty, it would have faced a damages bill of up to $736m (£480m).
Going to the site, you will get a message saying:
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 apologise. Without reservation.
As part of a settlement agreement with the major record companies, we have agreed to cease operations immediately, wipe clean all of the record companies’ copyrighted works and hand over ownership of this website, our mobile apps and intellectual property, including our patents and copyrights.
At the 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. 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 your and enjoying great music together. Thank you for being such passionate fans.
Yours in music,
Your friends at Grooveshark’
Grooveshark was founded in 2006 and had, at its peak, about 35 million users per month who were allowed to upload any song they chose.
