The legal status of free music streaming app Musi has long been unclear, but the matter may now be settled thanks to a lawsuit the developer filed against Apple.
Musi got its music from YouTube using a method it said was perfectly legal, while parent company Google disagrees. When the two sides couldn't come to an agreement, Apple removed Musi from its App Store – a move the developer said was unjustified…
The Free Music Streaming App Musi
Musi launched back in 2016 and was a big hit with teens in particular, as it offered completely free music streams without the interruptions of audio ads that you get on Spotify's free plan.
By the beginning of this year, Musi had actually outsold many of its competitors.
Musi is bigger than Pandora, Deezer or Amazon Music, with Sensor Tower estimating it has been downloaded more than 66 million times. Analytics firm Pixalete calculated that it was the top-grossing iOS app in North America in February.
The legality of the app has always been unclear
It was never clear whether the app was legal.
Musi streamed its music from YouTube. The Google-owned company claimed that Musi violated its terms of service by doing so, while the service argued that it was, in fact, simply acting as a web browser and therefore not doing anything illegal.
Independent experts have been unable to reach a consensus on the app's legal status. YouTube eventually complained to Apple, and the Cupertino company told Musi it needed to resolve the dispute if it wanted to stay on the App Store.
A Lawsuit Against Apple May Settle the Matter
Apple removed Musi from the App Store after failing to reach an agreement with YouTube. The video service claimed it was because Musi had stopped communicating, but the developer says that's not true and can prove that YouTube had actually stopped responding.
Graham Jones's best comment
The app sounds a little fishy, but I guess we'll find out in court whether it's legal. These things aren't decided in the court of public opinion, but by lawyers, judges, and juries.
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Arstechnica reports that Musi has sued Apple for wrongfully removing the app.
“Apple’s decision to suddenly and arbitrarily remove the Musi app from the App Store without any indication from Plaintiff as to how the Musi app infringed Plaintiff’s intellectual property rights or violated its Terms of Service,” Musi’s complaint alleged, “was unreasonable, lacked probable cause, and violated the terms of Apple’s Developer Agreement.”
Those terms state that removal is only possible if Apple “reasonably believes” that the app infringes another person’s intellectual property rights, and Musi argues that Apple has no “reasonable” basis to believe YouTube’s allegations […]
Music streaming app seeks permanent injunction an injunction that immediately reinstates Musi in the App Store and prohibits Apple from responding to third-party complaints by removing apps without any evidence of infringement.
It will now be up to the jury to decide whether Apple acted reasonably in removing Musi, which will at least indirectly determine the app's legal status.
Musi isn't the only free music streaming service that pulls music from YouTube — it's just the most well-known. If the ruling goes against the developer, it's likely that YouTube and Apple will play whack-a-mole with replacements.
Photo by Arnav Singhal on Unsplash
