Streaming music service Grooveshark has become an afterthought for many users but the app is still around and is readily available through Grooveshark’s webpage, even though it’s no longer on the Play Store. The app although probably well loved by its users has recently been met with some disappointment, as the once Chromecast compatible application has now entered into a state of incompatibility. With all the flak that it’s been catching it probably doesn’t surprise some of you that the Chromecast support didn’t last long, just like the Play Store housing the app itself didn’t last long. As with all things in this category, Grooveshark was deemed in violation of the Chromecast terms of service.
Grooveshark is making attempts to get the app the support they feel they deserve according to The Next Web, but for now if you want to stream your Grooveshark streaming tunes to the big screen using Google’s dongle you’ll be out of luck. At least the app still works and you can simply hook up a Bluetooth speaker. The removal of Chromecast support for Grooveshark breaks down to a simple case of perceived copyright infringement on the music of artists, which has lead to complaints from the RIAA to Google about the matter. Originally this is what caused Grooveshark to disappear from the Play Store a couple years back.
The complaint of course from Grooveshark is that they have licensing for customers to access all of their library of streaming music, which includes songs, full albums and more. Although there are various reasons as to why the RIAA feels they have such a bone to pick with Grooveshark and the services they offer to their users, perhaps the most concerning point for the RIAA is that Grooveshark allows users that pay the subscription fee the ability to stream music content that comes from the libraries of other users, which is likely the biggest contributor to the complaints about the copyright. Even so, if Grooveshark has licensing for that music and charges a sub fee to users who want access to it, everything sounds like it’s all bought and paid for, so here’s to hoping Grooveshark gets their groove back. Maybe they should talk to Stella and ask her how it’s done?