A free music streaming app whose legality has been questioned by some in the industry has been removed from the Apple store for alleged “infringement of intellectual property rights” and has taken Apple to court.
MusiThe Canada-based streaming service, which some news reports say is particularly popular with teenagers, filed a lawsuit against Apple on Wednesday (October 2), accusing Apple of breach of contract and breach of good faith and fair dealing in its decision to remove the service. The app will be available on its store on September 24th.
Musi’s app is only available through the Apple App Store, so it requested the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Jose to issue a preliminary permanent injunction to force Apple to restore the Musi app to its store and compensate for the costs of removal. .
Unlike other music streaming services, Musi does not license music to copyright holders and does not build a library of licensed music. Instead, it gives users access to the following audio Youtube Play videos through your own interface.
Reported by wired Data cited earlier this year showed the Musi app had been downloaded 66 million Since its launch ten years ago, 8.5 million There are downloads in 2023 alone. To highlight the popularity of the app, wired The article cites a Chicago high school in which 80% of students use Musi to play music.
according to wiredMusi serves ads when the app first opens, but then allows uninterrupted audio streaming even when video ads play in the app window. The app also features banner ads. While the app is free to use, all ads can be removed for a one-time fee $5.99.
Musi’s business model has led some to question its legality. According to an article published Riptide In July, Global Recording Industry Group international federation of food industry Musi was reported to the App Store and Musi’s lawyers were contacted in 2023 about a feature called “Secret Sauce” that apparently gave Musi users access to pre-release music.
After communicating with IFPI, this functionality has been discontinued. Riptide reported.
The app’s legality has been an issue since its launch. Founder Aaron Wojnowski and Christian Rennie Initially, we found a group of investors willing to invest through the Canadian version of the reality show. dragon’s lairbut one of the investors—a fashion designer and entrepreneur Qiao Manlan – Exit an investment after conducting due diligence.
“During legal due diligence, I was told that when companies like Musi reach critical mass, they may be sued for past usage by publishers,” Mimran said. financial post. “While the concept is great, there is so much work to be done on the legal side that has not yet been finalized.”
Musi said in its complaint against Apple that it was removed from its store “based on a five-word complaint dated July 29, 2024… without any supporting evidence or documentation” from a complainant named ‘YouTube Legal’ the application.
Musi said it attempted to contact YouTube about the alleged intellectual property infringement, but YouTube “failed to respond to Musi or substantiate its allegations.”
Musi’s complaint, which can be read in full here, says the streaming service has been in contact with YouTube since 2015 and has repeatedly addressed YouTube’s concerns that Musi may have violated its terms of service.
The complaint states that Musi contacted YouTube in April and May 2021 “to resolve several issues YouTube had with Musi app functionality and compliance with YouTube’s Terms of Service.”
Musi’s lawyers stated that they have claimed to YouTube that “Musi application only allows users to access YouTube’s public website through a functional interface and therefore does not use YouTube in a commercial manner” and that “Musi application does not sell advertising” in any content that only contains YouTube on pages with content, or on pages where such content is the primary basis for such sales.
The complaint states that Musi did not receive a response from YouTube until March 2023, and again in July 2024, “when YouTube sent Apple a standard notice stating that the Musi app infringed its intellectual property rights and did not Any explanation.
The complaint also alleges that Apple knew YouTube was not responding to Musi’s communications when it pulled the app from the Apple Store.
Mousi’s case has been handed over to a judge Nathaniel Cousinsthe court has issued a subpoena to Apple.global music business
