Free Music Streaming Site Shuttered After RIAA Suit

0

RIAAIf we ever questioned whether the record labels are serious about protecting their business, we can stop wondering.


Two months after launch, the free music-streaming site Aurous has shut down after being sued by the Recording Industry Association of America.

Creators employed public APIs to collate music tracks from online services like SoundCloud, YouTube and Spotify. Using peer-to-peer networking, users could stream that music.

The RIAA’s members considered the site illicit and the music pirated.

The app contained ads and Aurous said when they were sued they needed the ads to make money; the RIAA felt the app was gaining a user base that could be monetized now or later.

Both sides settled for $3 million and the settlement includes a permanent injunction for founders Andrew Sampson and Danielle Astvatsaturova from committing infringing acts in the future. Aurous agreed to sign over its domain name and all intellectual property to the music labels.

According to the filing, the parties agreed Aurous violated the copyrights of the major labels, specifically Atlantic Records, Capitol Records, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, and Warner Bros.

The settlement requires Aurous and Sampson to permanently cease and terminate all operation of the Aurous.me website or any other website or software similar to the Aurous system. Aurous has also agreed to transfer all of the intellectual property in its service to the plaintiffs.

“Aurous appropriately agreed to shut down,” said RIAA Chairman/CEO Cary Sherman. “It was the right thing to do. We hope this sends a strong signal that unlicensed services cannot expect to build unlawful businesses on the backs of music creators.”