Streaming music service Grooveshark (Escape Media, Inc.) is no longer with the company, shutting its doors today after a six-year battle with the music industry.

According to reports, the closure is part of a settlement with Universal Music Group, Inc., Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group, and includes a formal, public apology.

Public apology

“We started out nearly 10 years ago with the goal of helping fans share and discover music,” a statement on Grooveshark reads. “But despite our best of intentions, we made very serious mistakes. We failed to secure licenses from rights holders for the vast amount of music on the service. That was wrong. With apologize. Without reservation.”

The statement continued by suggesting to users that they explore “affordable” alternatives, including Spotify, Deezer, Google Play and others.

If you’re not familiar with the company, it could best be described as Spotify before there was Spotify.

Grooveshark offered a massive library of streaming music, but with a unique twist: Users could upload tracks to the service and share them with others. Rights holders were paid a share of revenue earned, but Grooveshark never asked them upfront for permission to stream their music.

As recently as last week, the company was told by a U.S. District Judge that it could be facing hundreds of millions in damages; it’s not clear whether the settlement today means that financial damages were either paid or are still on the table.

Trailblazer

Grooveshark was one of the first players in the streaming music space, and despite its flaws it literally was a foundation stone from which others grew upon.

In a decade where piracy was rampant, Grooveshark taught countless millions that there was an alternative way to listen to music, even if the offering wasn’t quite legal in and of itself.

Aspects of the service were also social, even more so than Spotify today, with functionality such as the ability to follow friends and see a history of what they’ve listened to. Spotify does some of this, but nowhere nearly as good as Grooveshark did.

While most of the Internet had already moved on from Grooveshark, and due to its legal battles over the last few years, it became a shell of its previous self due to an ever-diminishing library of music. It will nonetheless be sorely missed and fondly remembered.

photo credit: Gshark1 via photopin (license)