Dearly departed New York peer-to-peer filesharing start-up Limewire is close to a settlement with the Recording Industry Association of America, CNET reports, on track to “reimburse” that body for “damages” based on the premise that songs downloaded through the service represented potential sales. “Founder Mark Gorton said he saw most of his biggest competitors cease operating or try to legitimize their services after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against file-sharing operations like Limewire’s. He conceded that he chose to continue operating despite the court’s decision and the RIAA has shown that he pocketed profits as a result,” Greg Sandoval writes.
But a new wave of free music start-ups is gaining momentum as the peer-to-peer services die off: ExFM, Hype Machine and Grooveshark, streaming music start-ups that are niggling around the system by keeping files in the cloud, are just a few either based in or with significant presence in New York. Viva la résistance.
