Is Grooveshark legal?

superboy

11-02-2012

I currently have a spotify premium subscription for £9.99 a month. It's a good deal but heard that there were competitors and so I was curious to see if there was anything cheaper

First I came across Rdio, but it seems this is not available in the UK yet

The next was grooveshark. This one seems to get a lot of recommendations and is quite popular, however I seem to be able to download any song I want to my hard drive... for free

Surely this can't be legal or am I missing something?

Thanks

mimicole

11-02-2012

I'm not sure, probably not. I've never downloaded from Grooveshark though, I just use it to stream music.

TomGrant

11-02-2012

Quote:
“On April 18, 2011, Grooveshark’s Sr. VP of External Affairs Paul Geller released an open letter to the music industry regarding Grooveshark’s legality in an effort to explain how Grooveshark is legal, even though it is not completely licensed.
There is a distinction between legal and licensed. Laws come from Congress. Licenses come from businesses. Grooveshark is completely legal because we comply with the laws passed by Congress, but we are not licensed by every label (yet). We are a technology company, and we operate within the boundaries of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (DMCA). Some would have you believe that those of us who use the DMCA to innovate are inherently infringers and that claiming Safe Harbor under the DMCA is as good as admitting guilt. Not so.[27]”

From Wikipedia.

Hav_mor91

12-02-2012

Originally Posted by TomGrant:
“From Wikipedia.”

Sounds like US law does that work here in The UK

johnnybgoode83

12-02-2012

At £3.99 a month, Last FM is cheaper and, in my opinion at least, better.

cnbcwatcher

12-02-2012

Originally Posted by Hav_mor91:
“Sounds like US law does that work here in The UK”

I'm not sure. But if those SOPA or ACTA bills got through would Grooveshark be shut down?

Dizagaox

12-02-2012

Grooveshark is HIGHLY illegal.

Cadiva

12-02-2012

I pay £15 a quarter for Napster, you can stream, you can download and play to your dedicated PC or music player and you can also purchase at cheaper rates.
I've been using them since they switched from being on the dodgier side of the fence and I think it's a superb service to listen to new music, check out a CD to see if you want to buy it first etc.

DJGM

12-02-2012

Originally Posted by Dizagaox:
“Grooveshark is HIGHLY illegal.
”

Oh really?!? How did you work that out? Are you a lawyer representing the music industry? Are the copyright police
going to come and smash my front door down if I so much as attempt to type grooveshark.com into my browser?