Torrentfreak Face the Music: Grooveshark is Doomed

About two weeks back my article on which P2P sites would be affected if Congress takes makes illegal streaming a felony, caught the attention of TorrentFreak.com. And why not. They made my list of sites that would have to radically alter their content and advertisers if such a law went in effect.

Well, Ernesto, the lead writer for TorrentFreak and his fans bashed me with meatball Psychoanalysis but ultimately offered no real counter argument to mine, except one—GrooveShark: aP2Pish streaming service that made the top of my list of sites that will most likely to be shut down if illegal streaming becomes a felony. TorrentFreak laughed at my prediction.

TorrentFreak readers followed their leader, Ernesto, as he attacked my facts, saying that GrooveShark was “licensed” by major labels and therefore immune from shut down and therefore, I’m wrong about them and therefore I’m wrong about everything and therefore, I’m a “Narcissist.” Makes sense, no? Can’t you see the logic?

Well, this week, with just a hint of the way Congress is leaning, Google backed my call and started to express the anti- unlicensed P2P sentiment of the Obama Administration by throwing GrooveShark off their App store. A hint highlighted by the comments of Statement of Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, who applauded Google’s actions.

They are not alone, Apple did the same recently, throwing GrooveShark out of their App store as well.

Seems TorrentFreak (and their readers) need to read something other than their own posts once in a while. In fact, GrooveShark has never been fully “licensed” as Ernesto reported. Rather, they’ve been in ongoing litigation with Universal Music for quite some time, yet Ernesto ignored this fact.

GrooveShark has had a shaky history since its launch and will continue to do so, until it’s probably sold or shut down. Years ago, I came to learn through talks with them, that they were offered a licensing deal by the collective of majors for $4 Million– that was $4 Million for a one-time, world-wide rights in perpetuity for all hits songs controlled by the major record labels. A paltry sum for 100% of their content.

Radio networks have paid 100s of millions over the years for the rights to play music on the air. But GrooveShark thought a one-time $4 Million fee was, to use the words spoken to me by one of their founders, “extortion.”

At this point they are probably saying “Why didn’t we just listen to that damn narcissist, Moses, and pay the money.” A shame, because there are some great music finding features on the service, that sadly, many will not get to experience.

Meanwhile, TorrentFreak and other sites on my list that promote the illegal P2P lifestyle continue to be on the radar of US authorities as they wait in the wings for the go-ahead from Congress.

I Tweeted TorrentFreak about this but they have not responded.

If you're not following me on Twitter, you're missing a whole lot of fun.

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