Two summers ago Google pulled Grooveshark's app from the Android store. While no reason was given, ongoing lawsuits with labels and publishers were undoubtedly the cause. Last summer, Google added Grooveshark to their Search autocomplete blacklist. This dubious distinction had previously been reserved for high profile offenders like The Pirate Bay.
But today, Google allowed Grooveshark onto its popular Chromecast platform, which enables users to stream content to a TV from desktop or mobile devices.
Over the last 18 months, Grooveshark has cut licensing deals with a number of major labels and publishers. Some deals still remain uncut; and while many in the industry are still very wary of the startup and their launch-then-licences approach, it appears that Grooveshark is back in the game.
Now comes the really hard part:
- convincing users to pic Grooveshark in an increasingly crowded streaming marketplace
- finding a way to fund the royalties they've promised to pay
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