LimeWire

News Byte

Case Closed: LimeWire Settles With Labels For $105 Million

Peter Kafka in Media on May 12, 2011 at 3:25 pm PT

And now the long-running LimeWire saga is really over: The file-sharing site, forced to shut down by a Federal court order last fall, has agreed to pay the big music labels $105 million to settle a copyright case. The two sides had spent the past couple weeks in a New York courtroom, where a jury was set to decide damages; LimeWire agreed to a separate settlement with music publishers in March.

News Byte

Did Piracy Drop When Limewire Vanished?

Peter Kafka in Media on March 23, 2011 at 6:19 am PT

Last October, the big music labels got the courts to shut down Limewire, one of the best-known file-sharing services on the Web. Normally, shutting down a piracy site is simply a whack-a-mole exercise, but research firm NPD says this time is different: It says peer-to-peer filesharing in the U.S. dropped from 12 percent of Web user to 9 percent between Q3 of 2010 and Q4. These numbers are from a self-reported survey, so use as much salt as you’d like.

News Byte

Spotify Isn't in the U.S., but It's Hiring Here

Peter Kafka in Media on February 2, 2011 at 6:12 am PT

Spotify has one U.S. label deal and at least one more–with Citigroup’s EMI–that’s very, very close. That doesn’t mean the music service is guaranteed to land in the States, but it’s hiring as if it will: It has just picked up former LimeWire engineer John Pavley, and will put him to work at Spotify’s New York office. It’s also looking for a finance pro.

News Byte

LimeWire Makes It Official: It's All Over

Peter Kafka in Media on December 3, 2010 at 1:03 pm PT

It took a day, but LimeWire has responded to my request for comment on its imminent shutdown: It acknowledges that it’s shutting down, imminently. Via email: “Given our current situation, plans to bring our separate, legal music service to market have been canceled. The beginning of 2011 will mark the closing of LimeWire’s New York office and cessation of business by LimeWire. We attracted some of the top talent from the technology community over the years to build our new music service. We’ll be helping our team members commence their job search over the next few months.”