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<ref>{{cite web|url= |title= |accessdate=2009-04-23 }}</ref>
The Grooveshark has been protected against creation. To have this protection overturned, we first need to write a new Grooveshark article (on this page) and then submit it for a deletion review. To stop this happening again, we need to make sure the article points out why Grooveshark is noteworthy - press mentions are a good start.


{{Infobox Website
Incomplete!
| name = Grooveshark
| favicon = [[Image:grooveshark-favicon.png|145px|Grooveshark favicon]]
| logo = [[Image:grooveshark-logo.png|145px|Grooveshark logo]]
| screenshot = [[Image:grooveshark-screenshot.png|220px|Grooveshark main page]]
| caption =
| url = [http://www.grooveshark.com/ www.grooveshark.com]
| commercial = Yes
| type = Music, Search & Community
| registration = optional
| owner = [[Escape Media Group]]
| language = [[English]]
}}

'''Grooveshark''' is an [[streaming media|online music]] [[search engine]] and music recommendation site. Grooveshark allows users to search for and stream music that can be played immediately or added to a queue. The queue serves as a temporary playlist (an ordered list of songs) that is always present on the bottom of the site that contains songs that will be played. Grooveshark's [[recommender system|recommendation system]], called "Autoplay", finds similar songs to those in a user's queue and queues them for playback. Similar to [[Pandora]]'s "thumbs up" and "thumbs down" feedback mechanism, users of Grooveshark can tell the recommendation system whether a particular recommendation was good or not by clicking a "smile" or "frown" icon.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://clarkhoward.com/liveweb/shownotes/2009/03/27/15419/ |title=Howard Clark Shownotes |accessdate=2009-04-27 }}</ref> When users are satisfied with the current list of songs in their queue, they are able to save the songs as a traditional playlist for later retrieval.

A Twitter-like social feature allows users to "follow" each other to make it easier to share songs by clicking a special heart icon which adds it to the logged-in user's list of favorite users. This list can be accessed by navigating to the user's profile on the service. Like users, songs and playlists can also be added to a favorites list. Music can be shared on Grooveshark by directly linking songs to other users within Grooveshark or by posting links to other social networks like Facebook and MySpace through a "broadcast" feature, or by creating music widgets (small, embeddable music players) that can be posted on external websites.

Grooveshark is a [[Rich Internet Application]] (RIA) written in [[Actionscript]] using the [[Adobe Flex]] framework which runs in [[Adobe Flash]]. Its design implements various sliding panels to categorize and display lists of information, similar in style to the [[iphone|Apple iPhone]]. A right-aligned black modal window also slides-in to display more information for songs, playlists, and users. Grooveshark also lets users upload music to their online music library through a [[Java Web Start]] application. The upload program scans folders specified for [[mp3]]'s, uploading and adding them to the user's online library on the service. The [[ID3]] information of the uploaded song is linked to the user and the file is uploaded to Grooveshark which allows [[on-demand]] music playback. Collectively, each user's uploaded library is available to any user of Grooveshark. All content on the service is user-sourced.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10070510-2.html |title=Widgets and Music Uploads |accessdate=2009-04-23 }}</ref>

Unlike Pandora and other similar services, Grooveshark is available internationally.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.inquisitr.com/2669/grooveshark-autoplay-pandora-for-the-rest-of-us/ |accessdate=2009-04-23 }}</ref>

Grooveshark is streaming 50 to 60 million songs per month to more than 400,000 users. Their audience is growing at a rate of 2 to 3% per day.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blogcritics.org/archives/2009/04/15/094726.php |accessdate=2009-04-23 }}</ref>

== History ==

Grooveshark is a service of Escape Media Group Inc (EMG), a [[Gainesville, Florida|Gainesville, FL]] company.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://escapemg.com |title=Escape Media Group |accessdate=2009-04-23 }}</ref>. EMG was founded in [[March]] [[2006]] by three [[University of Florida]] undergrad students.<ref>{{cite web|url=www.rgp.ufl.edu/otl/pdf/startup/Grooveshark.pdf |title=UF Startup Opportunity: Grooveshark |accessdate=2009-04-23 }}</ref> Sam Trantino, a "down-on-his-luck economics major", and now [[Chief executive officer|CEO]] of Grooveshark, was on his way to donate plasma when he passed a record store with a sign that said "buy/sell/trade CDs", and had the idea to apply that to digital music.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/inside_uf_1-15-08-low.pdf |title= Grooveshark Brings Legal Music Sharing to Gators and world |accessdate=2009-04-23 }}</ref>


As of [[May]] [[2008]] EMG employs around 40 people, many of which are students of the nearby University of Florida.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.floridatrend.com/people_article.asp?cName=People&rName=Entrepreneurs%20/%20Small%20Business&whatID=3&aID=54167194.3909361.635895.8463989.533172.750&aID2=48906 |accessdate=2009-04-23 }}</ref> EMG has secured just under $1 million in seed funding and was reported to soon be close to obtaining [[venture capital]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tradevibes.com/company/profile/grooveshark |title=Tradevibes Grooveshark Profile |accessdate=2009-04-23 }}</ref>


Grooveshark launched in private [[Beta_version#Beta|beta]] in early [[2007]], and was initially a paid music download service.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://venturebeat.com/2007/12/05/grooveshark-offers-p2p-music-downloads-but-is-it-legal/ |title=Grooveshark Offers P2P Music Downloads But is it Legal? |accessdate=2009-04-23 }}</ref> The music was sourced from their proprietary [[p2p|P2P network]], facilitated by a downloadable client application.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.forbes.com/2008/08/11/napster-grokster-grooveshark-ent-tech-cx_kw_0811whartonfilesharing.html |title=The Renaissance Of File Sharing |accessdate=2009-04-23 }}</ref> Grooveshark offered a unique purchase model whereby upon purchase, the person who uploaded the transacted song was paid a portion of the total cost of the song. Grooveshark positioned itself as a legal competitor to other popular p2p networks like [[Kazaa]] and [[Limewire]], though the service’s legality was often brought into question. <ref>{{cite web|url=http://arstechnica.com/old/content/2007/09/get-your-grooveshark-on-new-p2p-service-will-give-users-a-cut-of-the-sales.ars |accessdate=2009-04-23 }}</ref>


As of early [[2008]], EMG has discontinued their paid download service and has repositioned itself as an online music jukebox, similar in functionality to services like Pandora and [[Last.FM]]. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/04/15/grooveshark-launches-web-media-player/)

== Criticisms ==

Operating in similar fashion to other online services like [[Youtube]] and [[Vimeo]], Grooveshark does not [[Indemnity|indemnify]] their users for any unlicensed uploaded content. Users have complained about the lack of indemnification protection found in their [[EULA]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://forums.cnet.com/5208-10152_102-0.html?forumID=97&threadID=267041&start=0 |accessdate=2009-04-23 }}</ref> Despite these concerns, no user to date has faced legal action from Grooveshark or third-parties. Parties claiming copyright infringement may use mechanisms of the [[DMCA|Digial Millenium Copyright Act]] (DMCA) to request that their content are removed. Repeat offenders, users who have uploaded unlicensed content more than two times, will have their Grooveshark accounts suspended.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.grooveshark.com/dmca |title=Grooveshark DMCA |accessdate=2009-04-23 }}</ref> Grooveshark makes a list available of all record labels with which they have royalty agreements (available at http://www.grooveshark.com/labels-list), though noticeably absent are any major record labels.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oew-healey15oct15,0,1679894.story?coll=la-opinion-center |title= |accessdate=2009-04-23 }}</ref>

== Features ==
* On-demand music streaming
* Music search engine
* Music recommendations
* Online music library
* Ability to select songs, users and playlists as a user's favorite
* Ability to share music to other online [[social networks]]

== Properties ==
* http://listen.grooveshark.com: flagship music search and playback product.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/04/15/grooveshark-launches-web-media-player/ |title=Grooveshark Launches Web Media Player |accessdate=2009-04-23 }}</ref>
* http://widgets.grooveshark.com: create music playback widgets featuring songs from Grooveshark.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10070510-2.html |title=GrooveShark now does widgets, music uploads |accessdate=2009-04-23 }}</ref>
* http://artists.grooveshark.com: artists can promote their music to users on Grooveshark.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.zeropaid.com/news/85897/grooveshark-artists-gives-bands-the-power-of-promotion/ |title=Grooveshark "Artists!" Gives Bands the Power of Promotion |accessdate=2009-04-23 }}</ref>
* http://twisten.fm: crawler and aggregator for music related posts (tweets) from Twitter.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2009/02/twistenfm_turns_twitter_into_a_music_station-2/ |title=Twisten.fm Turns Twitter Into A Music Station |accessdate=2009-04-23 }}</ref>
* http://tinysong.com: retrieve short Grooveshark urls of songs based on a search query.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-9980286-2.html |title=Share big songs with tiny links using TinySong |accessdate=2009-04-23 }}</ref>

== Similar Services ==
* [[Pandora]]
* [[Last.fm]]
* [[Deezer]]
* [[Seeqpod]]
* [[Songza]]

== See also ==
* [[List of online music databases]]
* [[List of social networking websites]]
* [[List of Internet stations]]

== References ==
{{reflist|2}}

Revision as of 17:10, 28 April 2009

[1]

Grooveshark
Grooveshark logo
Grooveshark main page
Type of site
Music, Search & Community
Available inEnglish
OwnerEscape Media Group
URLwww.grooveshark.com
CommercialYes
Registrationoptional

Grooveshark is an online music search engine and music recommendation site. Grooveshark allows users to search for and stream music that can be played immediately or added to a queue. The queue serves as a temporary playlist (an ordered list of songs) that is always present on the bottom of the site that contains songs that will be played. Grooveshark's recommendation system, called "Autoplay", finds similar songs to those in a user's queue and queues them for playback. Similar to Pandora's "thumbs up" and "thumbs down" feedback mechanism, users of Grooveshark can tell the recommendation system whether a particular recommendation was good or not by clicking a "smile" or "frown" icon.[2] When users are satisfied with the current list of songs in their queue, they are able to save the songs as a traditional playlist for later retrieval.

A Twitter-like social feature allows users to "follow" each other to make it easier to share songs by clicking a special heart icon which adds it to the logged-in user's list of favorite users. This list can be accessed by navigating to the user's profile on the service. Like users, songs and playlists can also be added to a favorites list. Music can be shared on Grooveshark by directly linking songs to other users within Grooveshark or by posting links to other social networks like Facebook and MySpace through a "broadcast" feature, or by creating music widgets (small, embeddable music players) that can be posted on external websites.

Grooveshark is a Rich Internet Application (RIA) written in Actionscript using the Adobe Flex framework which runs in Adobe Flash. Its design implements various sliding panels to categorize and display lists of information, similar in style to the Apple iPhone. A right-aligned black modal window also slides-in to display more information for songs, playlists, and users. Grooveshark also lets users upload music to their online music library through a Java Web Start application. The upload program scans folders specified for mp3's, uploading and adding them to the user's online library on the service. The ID3 information of the uploaded song is linked to the user and the file is uploaded to Grooveshark which allows on-demand music playback. Collectively, each user's uploaded library is available to any user of Grooveshark. All content on the service is user-sourced.[3]

Unlike Pandora and other similar services, Grooveshark is available internationally.[4]

Grooveshark is streaming 50 to 60 million songs per month to more than 400,000 users. Their audience is growing at a rate of 2 to 3% per day.[5]

History

Grooveshark is a service of Escape Media Group Inc (EMG), a Gainesville, FL company.[6]. EMG was founded in March 2006 by three University of Florida undergrad students.[7] Sam Trantino, a "down-on-his-luck economics major", and now CEO of Grooveshark, was on his way to donate plasma when he passed a record store with a sign that said "buy/sell/trade CDs", and had the idea to apply that to digital music.[8]


As of May 2008 EMG employs around 40 people, many of which are students of the nearby University of Florida.[9] EMG has secured just under $1 million in seed funding and was reported to soon be close to obtaining venture capital.[10]


Grooveshark launched in private beta in early 2007, and was initially a paid music download service.[11] The music was sourced from their proprietary P2P network, facilitated by a downloadable client application.[12] Grooveshark offered a unique purchase model whereby upon purchase, the person who uploaded the transacted song was paid a portion of the total cost of the song. Grooveshark positioned itself as a legal competitor to other popular p2p networks like Kazaa and Limewire, though the service’s legality was often brought into question. [13]


As of early 2008, EMG has discontinued their paid download service and has repositioned itself as an online music jukebox, similar in functionality to services like Pandora and Last.FM. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/04/15/grooveshark-launches-web-media-player/)

Criticisms

Operating in similar fashion to other online services like Youtube and Vimeo, Grooveshark does not indemnify their users for any unlicensed uploaded content. Users have complained about the lack of indemnification protection found in their EULA.[14] Despite these concerns, no user to date has faced legal action from Grooveshark or third-parties. Parties claiming copyright infringement may use mechanisms of the Digial Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) to request that their content are removed. Repeat offenders, users who have uploaded unlicensed content more than two times, will have their Grooveshark accounts suspended.[15] Grooveshark makes a list available of all record labels with which they have royalty agreements (available at http://www.grooveshark.com/labels-list), though noticeably absent are any major record labels.[16]

Features

  • On-demand music streaming
  • Music search engine
  • Music recommendations
  • Online music library
  • Ability to select songs, users and playlists as a user's favorite
  • Ability to share music to other online social networks

Properties

Similar Services

See also

References

  1. ^ {{cite web}}: Empty citation (help)
  2. ^ "Howard Clark Shownotes". Retrieved 2009-04-27.
  3. ^ "Widgets and Music Uploads". Retrieved 2009-04-23.
  4. ^ http://www.inquisitr.com/2669/grooveshark-autoplay-pandora-for-the-rest-of-us/. Retrieved 2009-04-23. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  5. ^ http://blogcritics.org/archives/2009/04/15/094726.php. Retrieved 2009-04-23. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  6. ^ "Escape Media Group". Retrieved 2009-04-23.
  7. ^ [www.rgp.ufl.edu/otl/pdf/startup/Grooveshark.pdf "UF Startup Opportunity: Grooveshark"] (PDF). Retrieved 2009-04-23. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
  8. ^ "Grooveshark Brings Legal Music Sharing to Gators and world" (PDF). Retrieved 2009-04-23.
  9. ^ http://www.floridatrend.com/people_article.asp?cName=People&rName=Entrepreneurs%20/%20Small%20Business&whatID=3&aID=54167194.3909361.635895.8463989.533172.750&aID2=48906. Retrieved 2009-04-23. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  10. ^ "Tradevibes Grooveshark Profile". Retrieved 2009-04-23.
  11. ^ "Grooveshark Offers P2P Music Downloads But is it Legal?". Retrieved 2009-04-23.
  12. ^ "The Renaissance Of File Sharing". Retrieved 2009-04-23.
  13. ^ http://arstechnica.com/old/content/2007/09/get-your-grooveshark-on-new-p2p-service-will-give-users-a-cut-of-the-sales.ars. Retrieved 2009-04-23. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  14. ^ http://forums.cnet.com/5208-10152_102-0.html?forumID=97&threadID=267041&start=0. Retrieved 2009-04-23. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  15. ^ "Grooveshark DMCA". Retrieved 2009-04-23.
  16. ^ http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oew-healey15oct15,0,1679894.story?coll=la-opinion-center. Retrieved 2009-04-23. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  17. ^ "Grooveshark Launches Web Media Player". Retrieved 2009-04-23.
  18. ^ "GrooveShark now does widgets, music uploads". Retrieved 2009-04-23.
  19. ^ "Grooveshark "Artists!" Gives Bands the Power of Promotion". Retrieved 2009-04-23.
  20. ^ "Twisten.fm Turns Twitter Into A Music Station". Retrieved 2009-04-23.
  21. ^ "Share big songs with tiny links using TinySong". Retrieved 2009-04-23.
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