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November 7, 2005 ../ Grokster Ceases P2P ServiceThe United States Supreme Court unanimously confirmed that using this service to trade copyrighted material is illegal. Copying copyrighted motion picture and music files using unauthorized peer-to-peer services is illegal and is prosecuted by copyright owners.--Posted on Grokster's Homepage Grokster Ltd. has discontinued its infamous Peer-To-Peer (P2P) service and stopped distributing their file-sharing software in a sudden $50 million dollar settlement with the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). This announcement comes after losing its case before the U.S. Supreme Court in June. The embattled company also states that it "hopes to have a safe and legal service available soon." The unexpected settlement with the Recording Industry Association of America follows the Supreme Court's unanimous ruling in June that Grokster and other P2P networks can be held liable if they induce users into violating copyright laws. Grokster vowed to appeal the ruling, but it seems like they have now caved to the pressure and will cease all activity that leads to copyright infringement. To date, the RIAA has sued close to 16,000 peer-to-peer users for copyright infringement. Just because Grokster has discontinued its service, doesn't mean users who have already downloaded the software won't be able to exchange files. Due to the decentralized nature of the P2P software, users don't have to log into a central server to connect to others, and thus the program will live on.
The recording industry has attributed its five-year sales slump to P2P networks like
Grokster that allow millions of users to illegally trade songs on a global scale by simply downloading their software and connecting to the Internet.
However, many feel that the recession is due to the fact that there just hasn't been
enough good music to buy.
This unforeseen announcement comes at a time when Mashboxx LLC is in the process
of purchasing Grokster, and may be a natural progression into legitimizing their offering. Mashboxx, a former illegal service, is developing
a legal service and is currently negotiating contracts with the major labels and prominent independents.
The Future: Like
Napster, Grokster is now all about their brand name. Even
though millions have never used Grokster, they have heard of the company through its legal woes and the recent
Supreme Court decision. This will
give the new legal Grokster some initial traction, especially if they can leverage their user base before they dissipate, but does the industry
really need another legal service?
Copyright © 2005 Futuremusic® All Rights Reserved. |
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 As the name correctly implies, Experiments In Sound, is Futuremusic's latest endeavor for pushing electronic music technology to the very edge of what's possible. Experiments In Sound grew out of Futuremusic's avant-garde events in New York City that featured DJ's taking mixing and live sound reinforcement to a whole new level with the very latest gear and software. Now Experiments In Sound has become The Ultimate Mix Contest...
After the tremendous success of our groundbreaking The Next Big Thing DJ Contest, Futuremusic has decided to once again create a new paradigm...
Futuremusic wants to thank everyone who participated in The Next Big Thing 2004. John Digweed, Beatport, Alienware, M-Audio, Native Instruments, IK Multimedia, PVDJ, PK Graphics, Ableton, The DubHouse, Propellerheads, Technics, FreeFloat, The Church, PCDJ and every DJ who entered this year's event thank you. From the sheer number of quality mixes, we can tell you that dance music is thriving in the United States. The amount of outstanding talent and creativity really blew us away, and every DJ who's putting their heart, mind and soul behind the music is a winner. John Digweed has made his decision and the winner is... Think you got skills?? Then start practicing! The Next Big Thing 2005 will kick off at the end of the summer!!
News Archives
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