Musi has confronted objections to its enterprise practices earlier than. In October 2019, the corporate filed swimsuit in opposition to a web based advert community, alleging that it had withheld funds owed for adverts that ran throughout the Musi app. In November that 12 months, the advert community filed a counter-complaint alleging that it stopped funds after discovering Musi’s enterprise was fraudulent. “Musi was knowingly and illegally ripping music off from YouTube,” the counter-complaint stated, alleging that when advertisers came upon, it misplaced over $7 million. A decide granted a request from Musi to dismiss the case with out prejudice in 2020.
Cherie Hu, the founding father of the music-business analysis community Water & Music, described Musi’s interface as utilitarian. It’s a spot to take heed to music and make playlists, and that’s it. Customers don’t see music lyrics, details about upcoming concert events, or any options hinting at collaborations or partnerships with artists. “It’s a really generic means of curating and presenting music,” she says. Even after greater than a decade in operation, it nonetheless feels extra like a vivid CS pupil’s senior undertaking fairly than knowledgeable product.
Musi claims to not host the music movies its customers stream, as a substitute emphasizing that these movies come from YouTube. These movies seem inside Musi’s personal barebones interface, however some flaunt their origins with watermarks from YouTube or Vevo. Customers have to sit down via video adverts proper after they open Musi and might then stream uninterrupted audio, however video adverts play silently each few songs whereas the music continues. The app additionally shows banner adverts, however customers can take away all adverts from the app for a one-time price of $5.99.
Not like its main rivals, Musi doesn’t provide a obtain operate, so the music stops with out entry to the web. “Candidly, this gained’t be a function ever, because of restrictions set in place by YouTube,” a Musi help account instructed a fan final 12 months who requested on Reddit if an offline mode was coming.
James Grimmelmann, a professor of digital and web legislation at Cornell College, says the best way Musi operates raises quite a few questions. “Is that this copyright infringement? A license for YouTube may not be a license to Musi,” he says. “Does this violate YouTube’s phrases of service in a means that YouTube may lower it off?” As of now, the solutions are unclear.
One unknown is whether or not enjoying a music on Musi will lead to the identical quantity of earnings for an artist as it will if performed straight on YouTube, particularly as streaming payouts calculations depend on a wide range of elements. The Musi help account on Reddit has instructed listeners that it does, with out offering any additional particulars or proof. It is usually unclear whether or not a rights holder who needs to take away their music from Musi would have a transparent mechanism to take action with out additionally pulling it from YouTube.
By tapping into YouTube on this means, Musi seems to have pulled off one thing outstanding: Constructing a booming enterprise in streaming music with out taking over any of the legwork of hanging offers with labels and distributors. That causes David Herlihy, a copyright lawyer and music trade professor at Northeastern College, to explain Musi as a “backside feeder.” He believes the app has skated by up to now as a result of it’s not technically breaking any legal guidelines. “It’s authorized,” he says. “They’re linking to YouTube, and YouTube has licenses.”
