Grooveshark is dead

After nearly a decade of providing music for free, Grooveshark has closed down, posting a mea culpa on its website apologising for its pretty blatant copyright infringement.

Its site now simply bears this message:

'Dear music fans,

Today we are shutting down Grooveshark.

We started out nearly ten years ago with the goal of helping fans share and discover music. But despite best of intentions, we made very serious mistakes. We failed to secure licenses from rights holders for the vast amount of music on the service.

That was wrong. We apologise. Without reservation.

As part of a settlement agreement with the major record companies, we have agreed to cease operations immediately, wipe clean all of the record companies’ copyrighted works and hand over ownership of this website, our mobile apps and intellectual property, including our patents and copyrights.

At the time of our launch, few music services provided the experience we wanted to offer - and think you deserve. Fortunately that's no longer the case. There are now hundreds of fan friendly, affordable services available for you to choose from, including Spotify, Deezer, Google Play, Beats Music, Rhapsody and Rdio, among many others.

"If you love music and respect the artists, songwriters and everyone else who makes great music possible, use a licensed service that compensates artists and other rights holders. You can find out more about the many great services available where you live here: http://whymusicmatters.com/find-music

It has been a privilege getting to know so many of your and enjoying great music together. Thank you for being such passionate fans.

Yours in music,

Your friends at Grooveshark'

The letter reads as though it was written while major labels breathed over their shoulder, and follows a major defeat in court last year that saw a judge find that Grooveshark's employees had violated copyright infringement laws.

The Pandora-esque free service's sudden disappearance has meant users have lost their playlists, though a website called groovebackup.com has been set up to help people export their Grooveshark music.