Grooveshark Online Radio App Broadcasts To Launch Next Month

Grooveshark didn't start on the right foot with the music companies that own the music it offered to listeners free. The reason for the ire and legal trouble for Grooveshark was that it didn't pay for the music or license it before it made the tunes available in its app for listeners at no cost. Grooveshark has been around for eight years and is now trying to go legit.

The way Grooveshark hopes to change its fortunes is by launching a legal online radio app next month. The Broadcasts app will debut in January and the launch timeframe suggest that we may hear more at CES 2015 next month. The app will not offer users access for free, it will be a paid service.

However, the paid service will be very inexpensive at 99 cents per month to listen with no commercials. In addition to listening to music using Broadcasts, users will also be able to text chat with each other via the app and access custom radio stations. Grooveshark's CEO thinks that at 99 cent it's cheap enough for people to purchase on impulse, yet make money for the company.

Grooveshark currently has about 30 million users, far behind the 80 million user class leader Pandora boasts. Grooveshark will still offer its $9 monthly unlimited service. The company lost a judgment to the record labels this fall with courts forcing it to pay royalties via the same system Pandora uses.

SOURCE: WSJ