Last week, streaming music firm Grooveshark shut down its site in Germany, redirecting users to local service Simfy, and blaming the “unreasonably high” licensing demands of German collecting society GEMA. However, GEMA begs to differ.
“Contrary to its statements, the provider Grooveshark did not discontinue its services in Germany due to disproportionately high operating expenses,” says GEMA in a statement.
“The fact is, as a service provider Grooveshark fundamentally refuses to pay compensation in any shape or form at all for the service. As of this writing, Grooveshark has also not contacted GEMA in any way.”
The statement goes on to refer to the lawsuits against Grooveshark from Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and EMI, as well as Apple and Google’s decisions to remove its native iPhone and Android apps from their respective stores.
“And so the reason for discontinuing the service in Germany is not, as the information on Grooveshark’s Web site wrongly suggests, a disagreement regarding the amount of compensation, but rather the reason is the basic fact that Grooveshark has to let artists and other copyright owners share in its revenue.”
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