LXer: Music labels force pioneering MP3tunes into bankruptcy
 

Published at LXer:

The latest in the recording industry's ten-year grudge match with Michael Robertson. MP3tunes, a music locker service that has spent years locked in litigation with major record labels, announced last week that it was closing up shop. The startup scored a partial victory in court last year, helping to establish the legality of cloud music services in the process. But founder Michael Robertson says that "four and a half years of legal torment" forced his company to file for bankruptcy on April 27. The filing is only the latest development in a decade-long grudge match between the recording industry and Robertson. Robertson has a knack for starting businesses that threaten to disrupt the business models of music industry incumbents, and they have responded with waves of tough litigation, using every available tactic to drive him out of business. The closure of MP3tunes is another notch in the labels' belt, but it's unlikely to be the last we hear from Robertson.

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