The legal status of free music streaming app Musi has long been unclear, but thanks to a lawsuit filed by its developer against Apple, the issue may be resolved.
Musi sourced music from YouTube using methods it claimed were completely legal, but parent company Google disagreed. When the two sides couldn’t come to an agreement, Apple removed Musi from the App Store, a move the developer says was without good reason…
Free music streaming app “Musi”
Musi launched in 2016 and was a big tip for teens in particular, as it offered completely free music streams without the audio ad interruptions you get with Spotify’s free tier.
By the beginning of this year, Musi was actually bigger than many of its rivals.
Musi is bigger than Pandora, Deezer, and Amazon Music, with over 66 million downloads, according to Sensor Tower estimates. Advertising analytics firm Pixalete estimates that it was the highest-grossing iOS app in North America as of February.
The legality of the app was always unclear
It is not clear whether the app was legitimate.
Musi streamed music from YouTube. The Google-owned company claimed that Musi violated its terms of service by doing this, but argued that the service was effectively just acting as a web browser and therefore did nothing wrong. did.
Independent experts could not agree on the legal status of the app. YouTube eventually filed a complaint with Apple, and the Cupertino company told Musi he needed to resolve the dispute if he wanted to remain on the App Store.
A lawsuit against Apple could resolve this issue.
Apple removed Musi from the App Store after failing to reach an agreement with YouTube. The video service claimed it was because Musi stopped contacting them, but the developer says this is not true and that it can prove that it was actually YouTube that stopped responding.
As reported by Arstechnica, Musi is currently suing Apple for wrongfully removing the app.
“The Musi app was suddenly and arbitrarily removed from the App Store without any instruction from the complainant as to how the Musi app infringed the complainant’s intellectual property or violated the Terms of Service. “Apple’s decision to do so was unreasonable and without good reason,” Musi’s complaint alleges. , violated the terms of Apple’s development agreement. ”
Those terms state that Apple will only consider removal if it “reasonably believes” an app infringes someone else’s intellectual property rights, and Musi said Apple does not allow YouTube claimed that there was no basis for “reasonably” believing in the claim (…)
The music streaming app is seeking a permanent injunction to immediately reinstate Musi to the App Store and stop Apple from responding to third-party complaints by removing the app without evidence of copyright infringement. I’m looking for it.
A jury will now decide whether Apple acted reasonably by removing Musi, which will at least indirectly determine the app’s legal status.
Musi isn’t the only free music streaming service that lets you get music from YouTube. Simply the most well-known service. If this decision goes against developers, YouTube and Apple will likely end up playing whack-a-mole over a successor.
Photo by Arnav Singhal on Unsplash
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