If you’re looking for a music service that allows you to discover and stream unlimited amounts of music, upload your own tunes, and allows sharing via the popular social networks, you might want to check out Grooveshark. Today we give you an overview of the the service and what it has to offer. Grooveshark When you first go to Grooveshark you’re presented with an easy to use interface and can immediately begin searching for music, upload your own, create playlists, change themes and more. When you start using Grooveshark, it will popup various balloon tips to help use the service. You can select to not have them shown if they annoy you.
Without creating an account you can browse through different bands and artists and play the music. However, with out an account you won’t be able to upload your own music and access other cool features.
Play Lists The player works like you would expect a music player to. After creating an account you can create playlists and store your favorite tracks.
After searching for the music you want, click the plus icon next to the track and add it to your queue.
Then from your queue list you can drag and drop songs to your playlist.
Or you can save the entire queue to a playlist by either creating a new one or writing over and existing one.
From the songs in your queue you can email a link to your friends to share it with them. There is also an option to use the major social networks like Facebook and Twitter too.
Uploading Songs After signing up for the free account you can upload your music and take advantage of other features. This feature is cool because you can access your music wherever there’s an Internet connection. To upload your music you’ll need to have Java installed and then start through the uploading process. First you need to select the music you want to upload.
After you’ve selected the songs you want to upload, Grooveshark will scan the music for information.
When the scan is complete you can go through and double check the accuracy.
If everything looks correct the uploading process will begin.
After the upload process you’re shown a confirmation screen and a message about it might take up to 24 hours for the songs to appear.
Free Account With the free account you will be shown ads while using the service. Or you can become a VIP member for $3/month to remove them.
You also get a lot more as a Grooveshark VIP including access to new features, more music, direct support, custom themes, and more.
Other Features There are some other cool features like the Grooveshark Radio that works similar to Pandora. You can give a song a smiley or frown as it continues to pull up songs related to what you like.
You can choose from different themes for the page as well. VIP members get a choice of a lot more though.
If you find a song you really like, they offer a choice where you can purchase it from Amazon or iTunes.
If you are a musician and want to promote your band, they have a section for that where you pay a certain amount for so many plays. With this you also get a full dashboard with analytics, music catalogue and more.
There is also a simple Google Chrome extension you can get that add simple playback controls for it.
Conclusion In my tests this seems like a cool service, though the song selection was a bit limited based on my tastes. The songs play right away, and there's no loading time which is cool. There are also plenty of social features built into Grooveshark as well if you’re looking for that. If you can handle the ads shown on the side, this is a very cool and free solution for finding new music and sharing it online. For $3/month or $30 for a full year, they eliminate the ads and offer other perks as well. As Grooveshark continues to evolve it could turn into the “go to” music sharing and streaming service for music enthusiasts. In the near future we will take a detailed look at the VIP service and the benefits it has to offer. Have fun and let us know what you think of the service by leaving a comment below. Grooveshark Main SiteGrooveshark Google Chrome Extension
FAQs
Universal Music Group filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Grooveshark on January 6, 2010, alleging that Grooveshark maintained on its servers illegal copies of Universal's pre-1972 catalog.
Does listening to your own music count as a stream? ›
Of course, it's fine to hear your own songs once in a while, but when you leave your newest album on a loop for two days straight the streaming platforms will take notice and could remove your music from their service.
What does it mean to stream music online? ›
Music streaming is listening to music without having to download it to your device. You simply listen to the music of your choice directly (audio only) from a streaming website. Examples of these music streaming sites are Spotify, Apple, Deezer, and Pandora.
Is Grooveshark down? ›
Grooveshark closed in April this year following years of legal action from several record labels. A US court had determined that the site could be liable for $736m (£472m) in damages after it was judged to have wilfully breached copyright when building the service's music library.
Why did Grooveshark shut down? ›
Grooveshark major weakness and reasons for its failure were copyright infringements, financial struggles and lack of investment. The company was sued by multiple record labels and the app was subsequently banned from mobile marketplaces.
What are the old illegal music streaming sites? ›
Napster and LimeWire were some of the earliest music-sharing applications that did not obtain proper permissions to use licensed music. Users were able to download and share copyright-protected music without permission. All commercially produced music is copyright protected.
What is the 30 second rule on Spotify? ›
Music video streams (30 seconds or more) count towards the all-time streams for the associated song and any release the song is on. In Spotify for Artists, all-time streams is currently the only stat that counts music video streams.
Will my stream get taken down if I play music? ›
Twitch allows music during live streams but has guidelines for copyrighted music, which is only allowed with legal rights or permission. If you don't comply with copyright rules and laws, Twitch can take down your content, suspend your channel, or mute your videos.
What does 1000 mean on Spotify? ›
1000 Spotify streams is a milestone because Spotify tells us so. When you reach this milestone on a track, the service will start telling the world how many streams that track has had to-date. Before that, you only see “less than 1,000”.
Is it OK to play music on stream? ›
Per Twitch's bylaws, “You should only include music in your Twitch channel if you're sure you have the necessary rights or authority to do so.” Failure to do so could result in a rights holder filing a takedown request under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”).
If you don't obtain a license for streaming music, you are subject to copyright infringement. You could face penalties and fees or be required in court.
Is listening to music considered streaming? ›
Music streaming is simply renting access to an extremely large catalog of audio that is hosted elsewhere, through the internet. Even when given the ability to download songs for offline listening, the music still belongs to the host service, not the listener.
Is Grooveshark illegal? ›
Griesa of United States District Court in Manhattan ruled that Grooveshark was liable for infringement because its employees and officers, including Mr. Tarantino and Mr. Greenberg, had personally uploaded thousands of songs without permission — uploads that were not subject to the “safe harbor” provisions of the law.
What replaced Grooveshark? ›
deezer. deezer is widely touted as the heir to grooveshark, given its features strikingly resembling the former's services. with over 35 million tracks in tow and 6 million paid subscribers, deezer is quickly becoming one of the best music streaming service on the web.
Why not to use Spotify? ›
Spotify has also attracted media attention for several security breaches, as well as for controversial moves including a significant change to its privacy policy, "pay-for-play" practices based on receiving money from labels for putting specific songs on popular playlists, and allegedly creating "fake artists" for ...
Is it legal to listen to unreleased music? ›
Many people listen to unreleased music. They may not find it unethical to listen to music that wasn't leaked before the release date or if the artist themself hasn't spoken against it. People have the right to listen to the music of their choice, as long as they are not illegally pirating it.
Is it legal to be a music censorship? ›
While music can be classified as a protected form of expression under the First Amendment, there have still been instances of voluntary censorship within the music industry, particularly in regards to protecting children from being exposed to age-inappropriate subject matter, corporate objections to an artist's work, ...
Is it illegal to stream your own music on Spotify? ›
Penalties and deterrents
Spotify strictly prohibits using any third party service that promises streams or playlist placement in exchange for money. These services violate Spotify's Terms and Conditions of Use and User Guidelines.
What music can I use without permission? ›
First, realize that not all music is protected by copyright. Music recorded before 1922 is generally in the public domain, meaning that you can use it as background to your animation without worrying about copyright holders.
