Grooveshark Is Adding 200K Users A Month, CEO Says Future Depends On Live Music Fans
After 2 years filled with lawsuits and banishment from Google and Apple's app stores, Grooveshark may be turning things around. CEO Sam Tarantino likens the experience to "getting punched in the face 10,000 times", but now says Grooveshark is adding 200,000 users a month with particular growth in mobile.
The've also added some staff, currently totally 85; up from 60 a year ag,o but well under the 145 swmployees at their peak. "We bootstrapped this thing since the beginning and it is only until now that our slow but steady steps are starting to bear fruit," Tarantino told Business Insider.
The Future Is Live Music
Now that Grooveshark seems to be able to cut deals with rightsholders, how does the ad supported music streamer make enough money to survive? Surprisingly, the CEO says the future is all about live music:
"We've reached a point where the consumer is now spending more of their entertainment wallet share on live music than on the actual content itself. The question is how do we help everyone in the space reach that consumer who is spending on the live experience?"
Taratino did not elaborate what role Grooveshark might play.
I met Sam Tarrentino in the very very early days of Grooveshark.He was a student in Gainsville Florida. This is not the same young man who excited me on the prospects of the company. Fresh and innovative full of promise. I try not to be negative about people because it doesn’t serve a purpose. I can just say the young man I met and knew doesn’t exist anymore.
JM