​Grooveshark ceases operations

Grooveshark has permanently shut down after losing a number of battles against major US record companies such as Universal Music, Warner Music, and EMI Music.

In a letter to its "music fans" posted on its site, Grooveshark said that as part of a settlement agreement with the major record companies, the company has agreed to "cease operations immediately, wipe clean all of the record companies' copyrighted works, and hand over ownership of this website, our mobile apps, and intellectual property, including patents and copyrights".

The music-sharing site was previously accused by record companies of posting more than 100,000 pirated songs to its site.

Google and Apple had also banned Grooveshark from their app stores, accusing the company of encouraging peer-to-peer music sharing.

Grooveshark admitted that it had made "very serious mistakes" by failing to seek licences from rights holders for the music it served.

"That was wrong. We apologise. Without reservation," the company said.

Elsewhere, Popcorn Time, a US-based streaming app that uses BitTorrent to download copyrighted content, will be blocked in the UK after losing a legal challenge from six Hollywood film studios.

BBC has reported that Sky, BT, TalkTalk, EE, and Virgin have been ordered to restrict public access to Popcorn Time.