Grooveshark Sued Again… Negotiating Via Lawsuit Continues (original) (raw)

from the and-so-it-goes dept

We’ve discussed in the past how the record labels have this habit of “negotiating through lawsuits,” in that they will often sue an innovative music startup, even as they’re negotiating licensing deals with them, just to get the upperhand in the negotiation. It’s happened with countless music startups — and it’s one of the main reasons so few survive. They’re overly burdened with ridiculous costs from the beginning. We already saw that EMI used this strategy with Grooveshark, in forcing it into a licensing deal, and apparently Universal Music decided it could do the same thing. It’s now suing Grooveshark as well — even though Grooveshark insists it pays all the appropriate licenses. Of course, the end result of all this is that it gives Grooveshark more publicity, but may make it more difficult for the company to survive.

Filed Under: lawsuits, negotiation
Companies: emi, grooveshark, universal music