Music publishers file copyright suit against Grooveshark
Grooveshark just can't seem to shake its copyright woes. — A group of songwriters and music publishers filed a lawsuit on July 15 in Tennessee against the digital-music service, claiming Grooveshark enables users to obtain music illegally …
Context & Ripple Effects
Grooveshark's 2011 has been a steady tightening of the screws: in April, Google removed the service from Android Market, cutting off its mobile distribution, and days later the company vowed publicly to fight its copyright disputes 'to the finish'. The July 15 lawsuit filed by songwriters and music publishers in Tennessee adds a second rights-holder front — the publishing side, not just recordings — to that fight.
First-order effects
- Grooveshark now faces claims from songwriters and publishers asserting it enables users to obtain music illegally, on top of the label-side disputes it had already promised to contest.
Second-order effects
- Distribution partners like Google, which already ejected the app from Android Market in April, have fresh evidence of legal risk around an unlicensed catalog — raising the bar for any app store or advertiser weighing Grooveshark partnerships.
Third-order effects
- If publishers keep litigating rather than licensing upload-based services, safe-harbor defenses under the DMCA get stress-tested from both sides of the industry, pushing user-generated music platforms toward negotiated licenses as the price of staying distributed.
The trend: Rights holders are converging on litigation over licensing as the default response to unlicensed streaming services, with publishers now matching the labels' playbook.