'Popcorn Time of music' Aurous shut down before it ever really started

2015’s most high-profile new music filesharing service is dead.

Aurous lasted just a few days after its launch in October before being forced offline by a lawsuit from labels. After agreeing to a $3m settlement in that case, the app is gone completely.

The case is a resounding success for music industry rightsholders, who have battled unsuccessfully for years to kill off The Pirate Bay, yet who managed to nip Aurous in the bud before many music fans even knew it existed.

It was a Spotify-like desktop application enabling people to stream music from a range of other services, with Aurous hailed as “the Popcorn Time of music” before it launched – a reference to the unlicensed streaming software that has spooked the film industry in 2015.

As soon as it launched, US industry body the RIAA filed a lawsuit and won a temporary restraining order against Aurous and its developer, Andrew Sampson. Two months later, the settlement means Aurous will not be returning.

The RIAA welcomed the settlement. “It was the right thing to do. We hope this sends a strong signal that unlicensed services cannot expect to build unlawful businesses on the backs of music creators,” said the chairman and chief executive, Cary Sherman.

Sampson had argued that Aurous was simply a way for people to find music on legal streaming services like YouTube and SoundCloud, although the labels claimed that it was relying on other unlicensed sources including Pleer and MP3Skull.

Sampson may have agreed to settle – his offer in October to resolve the dispute via an “arm-wrestling competition” fell on deaf ears – but he criticised US copyright laws in a blog post following the announcement this week.

“I implore Congress to amend the statute to reflect the realities of file sharing. There is something wrong with a law that routinely threatens teenagers and students with astronomical penalties for an activity whose implications they may not have fully understood,” he wrote.

“The injury to the copyright holder may be real, and even substantial, but, under the statute, the record companies do not even have to prove actual damage. In the US courts its not about who is right or wrong, people can judge this for themselves, its about how much money can you spend.”