What is Grooveshark?
Grooveshark was a free online music streaming service launched in 2007 that allowed users to search for and listen to songs on-demand. It offered a library of over 15 million songs from major and independent record labels. Users could create custom playlists and share them with friends. The service was accessible via its website and mobile apps.
Grooveshark differentiated itself from services like Spotify with its social features for sharing playlists and following other users. It also had a feature for users to upload their own MP3s, which led to issues with copyright infringement from copyright holders. Despite attempting to negotiate licenses with labels, Grooveshark ultimately faced numerous lawsuits regarding royalty payments. As a result of legal pressure from major music companies like Universal Music Group, Grooveshark shut down permanently in April 2015.
At its peak, Grooveshark had over 30 million monthly active users. Some alternatives to Grooveshark for free on-demand music streaming include SoundCloud, Pandora, and Spotify's free tier, although they may not have the same library or community aspects as Grooveshark.
Spotify, Deezer, SoundCloud, Funkwhale, Pandora, TIDAL, Jango, iHeart, Jamendo, Freemake Music Box, Openwhyd, Libre.fm are some alternatives to Grooveshark.