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Business News Digital
Aurous calls for support
By Andy Malt | Published on Thursday 22 October 2015
Controversial new streaming app Aurous, which pulls in music content from unlicensed sources, resulting in legal action from the US record industry, has asked fans to join a social media campaign to show their support ahead of a court ruling on whether or not to extend an injunction against the service later this month.
Positioning the legal battle as very much a David v Goliath type of fight, Aurous founder Andrew Sampson said in a statement: “On 14 Oct, before the chisel could even be laid to the stone, the Recording Industry Association Of America sued us, claiming we were nothing more than a pirate service [and] a judge ordered us to halt our operations; just like that, all our hard work put on hold”.
He continued: “We could not disagree more with the RIAA, you see there is a reason we chose the .me suffix for our website, Aurous isn’t about money or profits, we don’t need to impress shareholders, Aurous is a player that is being built for you, the artist, the creator, the average listener, we want Aurous to be your go-to player-of-players, something that lets you bring all your services together. Not only that, but we had a big goal in mind after launching, create a community of music lovers all around the world. A community that can support each other and do beautiful things”.
The statement doesn’t go on to specify what Aurous is doing for “the artist, the creator”, but concludes: “On 28 Oct, a judge will decide if Aurous can continue operating, we need all of your support. So tell the RIAA that creativity cannot be censored, that innovation cannot be silenced and most importantly, tell them you #StandWithAurous”.
I’m not sure the courts or the RIAA are likely to be swayed by a show of support through a hashtag, but the social media activity will surely help to further build hype for the service, should it come back online.
As previously reported, Aurous stopped distributing its app after the RIAA secured a temporary restraining order last week, pending the upcoming court hearing. And yesterday the Aurous team implied on Twitter that they will shut down the service if they lose in court next week. Bullish as they might have been, Sampson and his partner in the software are seemingly not so keen on getting themselves involved in a long drawn out legal fight, a la Grooveshark.
