14 DAY TRIAL // The online music landscape is becoming more diverse, at least in terms in companies vying for a spot even as the number of different types of services seems to be shrinking. One of the few free services available in the US, and everywhere else for that matter, Grooveshark stands out not only through its vast catalogue or the site itself, but also for questionable legality. Which landed it another lawsuit from a major label, this time Universal Music Group (UMG).
"UMG is the owner or exclusive United States licensee of the rights in sound recordings recorded prior to February 15, 1972 (“Pre-1972 Recordings”) of some of the most popular and successful recording artists of the 2OthCentury," the lawsuit filing at a New York state court reads (view in Google Docs).
"[Grooveshark] infringes UMG’s Pre-1972 Recordings by, among other things, reproducing and storing these copyrighted sound recordings on its own servers as part of its extensive catalog of infringing music and then distributing copies of those recordings to the users of that website," UMG accuses Grooveshark.
The lawsuit is pretty straightforward, UMG owns the rights of some of the songs on Grooveshark which it didn't license to the service and is not happy about it. It's interesting that UMG is only suing for these "pre-1972" tracks, though it doesn't have any sort of licensing agreement with Grooveshark. However, the site claims that it pays the appropriate copyright fees.
Grooveshark enables users to upload their own music to the site which is then made available to everyone else. This provides the service with one of the most extensive catalogues out there for free or paid services alike. Unsurprisingly, copyrighted material ends up on the site. The labels have gone after sites and services for much less, so the only surprising part about the suit is that it took UMG so long.
Grooveshark was also sued by EMI last year for similar transgressions, but the two companies finally settled and EMI has agreed to license its catalogue to the site. It became pretty clear that the lawsuit was just a negotiation tool and that the label was just looking to get a better deal out of the process, which it most likely got. It may very well turn out that Universal is using the same tactic and that in the end it will license its artists as well. The only issue that arises is if Grooveshark can pay the licensing fees and still run the service, something which proved problematic for other free services in the past.