www.GrooveShark.com is an online company/application devoted to the online uploading and streaming of music. It was originally created by three University of Florida students who had a concept for an online facility for the resale of used music files. The original concept would facilitate legal 'used' cd resale digitally. This concept changed as the idea expanded.
In the current version, a Grooveshark user uploads music from their personal collection to an ever-expanding online library of digital music, which can be instantly be shared, accessed and streamed. A user can create a browser operating library of songs similar to iTunes without downloading any content onto their personal machine. Artists can simultaneously be searched, discovered, and enjoyed in an all-encompassing, easy online application.
Grooveshark has a policy for fairly compensating artists for their work if they are contacted about use of the product, and honor all DMCA copyright infringement claims and take-down requests. Their copyright page seems to state that if they are not contacted, they are protected by fair-use laws, as the content is user-uploaded. They state in their copyright section that they would much rather pay an artist than take down their content, and encourage artists to get in touch if their work is uploaded by a user.
Grooveshark makes all of its revenue through artists' promotional adds and $3 monthly fees that 'VIP' members can pay for an enhanced searching and listening experience. VIP membership removes the ads from the site, allows access to the Grooveshark desktop and phone apps, and expands the online 'favorites' and 'playlist' libraries, along with other features.
For what at first seemed like a shockingly liberal approach to streaming massive amounts of copyrighted MP3 content, Grooveshark seems to have covered all their legal bases and made the music experience all around beneficial for artist, user, and company alike.
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