Music apps are a dime a dozen nowadays on the internet. After Spotify and SiriusXM, we had Musi, which had lost no time in creating its own share in the market.
There had been millions of downloads over a few days and people were talking to it like fish to water. But then, one fine morning, it just disappeared off the face of the earth.
What did Musi do, actually?
To explain in the plainest terms, it pulled its music from YouTube without entering into any deals with the creators who were making the music. In other words, it was making money off of other people’s work without spending a dime in the process.
According to the website Wired, “Musi appears to have pulled off something remarkable: building a booming business in streaming music without taking on any of the legwork of striking deals with labels and distributors.”
Sure enough, the platform’s DSP-like interface allowed users to download whatever was ‘newly released’ or ‘hot in that week’.
How did the app earn money?
Like YouTube, it earns money from the number of views on a particular video. And just like YouTube, it had ads and also the option offered to users to remove all ads in return for a specific amount of money.
So, what happened to it?
Well, it so happened that Musi apparently violated a lot of copyright stuff and caused loss to other companies and financial entities. There were lawsuits and complaints filed against it, and before long, it was removed from the Apple store.
Companies such as IFPI and the National Music Publishers Association were putting a lot of pressure on Apple to get rid of Musi. And despite Apple having promised to conduct investigations in good faith, it unceremoniously kicked Musi out.
The latest development
Well, that story did not end there. As per the latest news, Musi is suing Apple for its breach of promise.
According to The Recorder, “Despite its obligations to investigate complaints in good faith, Apple removed the Musi app based upon unsupported accusations from a third party who has failed to respond to Musi’s communications.”
This is an excerpt from a copy of the lawsuit filed by Musi against Apple. The case has been filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California in San Jose.
So, what will happen next? We have no clue, but things are heating up, and that’s certainly not ‘music’ to Apple’s ears!
