Josh Greenberg, one of the founders of now-shuttered music streaming service Grooveshark, has died. He was 28.
According to the Gainesville Sun, Greenberg was found in his bed by his girlfriend. According to police, there were no signs of foul play, injuries, or drugs. His mother told the paper that he didn’t have any apparent health problems. Until an autopsy is performed, the cause of death is unknown.
Earlier this year, Grooveshark shut down after a judge ruled the service made “willfull” copyright violations.
“We are shutting down Grooveshark. We started out nearly ten years ago with the goal of helping fans share and discover music. But despite [the] best of intentions, we made very serious mistakes. We failed to secure licenses from rights holders for the vast amount of music on the service. That was wrong. We apologize. Without reservation,” reads a message on the company’s site.
The move satisfied a settlement with Universal Music Group, Sony Music and Warner Music Group. Grooveshark wiped its servers clean and handed over control of its website and apps.
This prevented Grooveshark’s parent company Escape Media from being forced forced to pay the labels the $736 million that the judge proposed as a possible liability.
According to the Sun, Greenberg’s mother said he was more “relieved than depressed” about the final fate of Grooveshark.
Grooveshark was founded in 2006 at the University of Florida. At one time, the service boasted over 40 million users.
Image via Twitter