Google reinstates Grooveshark Android app despite legal troubles

Despite being hounded by lawsuits from the biggest U.S. music labels, Google has reinstated popular streaming music service Grooveshark’s Android app in the Google Play store.

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Back in January, Grooveshark craftily launched an HTML5 web app for streaming music through iOS and Android web browsers in response to being banned from some app stores. The company has been in legal hot water with the major music labels because it doesn’t have broad licensing agreements to play the majority of its music and relies on DMCA rules, just as YouTube does.

The company’s official statement blames the app’s initial removal on “rogue apps” instead of legal issues. The company wrote in a statement to VentureBeat:

After working closely with Google to get rogue apps removed, we’re delighted that the official Grooveshark app has been reinstated in the Android market. Grooveshark is dedicated to helping music fans search, discover and share music while pioneering new artist promotion, distribution and monetization techniques. We look forward to continuing to build a relationship with Android and leverage this fantastic platform for our partners.

The company has two pricing tiers for listening to music through the app. The free app gives you unlimited radio station listening (similar to Pandora and Spotify), while the premium subscription ($9/month) gives you on-demand streaming of any song in Grooveshark and much more. The company writes in the app’s official description:

Always free features, no paid subscription needed:

• Unlimited streaming of over 20 genre Radio Stations, with hand-tagged selections from the millions of songs in our library.
• Launch a custom Radio Station based on any song you choose, and tailor it further to your taste by skipping and liking songs.

Features for Grooveshark Anywhere subscribers ($9/mo.) or those using the free trial:

• Free, unlimited on-demand music streaming.
• Take your music collection with you everywhere: Favorites, Playlists, Radio Stations, and the community of music fans on Grooveshark.
• Offline your most frequently played songs for uninterrupted listening even when there’s no stable connection.
• Choose from one of our genre Radio Stations or launch a personalized station based on any song in your queue, with no song skip or listening limits. Save particularly good sessions as Playlists for continued listening later.
• Create, save, and share unlimited Playlists with friends.
• Connect your social media profiles to easily share your music with friends.
• Explore Popular songs and see what the Grooveshark community is listening to.

Grooveshark on Android photos: Grooveshark