New filesharing and streaming app Aurous has already come under the scrutiny of major labels and the US recording industry body, Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) after being launched just four days ago on Oct. 14. In a swift counterstrike, the RIAA has already filed a suit against what is being dubbed by some as the Popcorn Time of music (not as a compliment), for what it claims is "copyright theft on massive scale."
"This service is a flagrant example of a business model powered by copyright theft on a massive scale," claimed an RIAA spokesperson via The Guardian. "Like Grokster, Limewire or Grooveshark, it is neither licensed nor legal. We will not allow such a service to willfully trample the rights of music creators."
Aurous says it will implement a system that will allow copyright holders to request their content be taken down and will allow users to tip artists via Bitcoin according to Thump.
In an interview with Billboard, developer Andrew Sampson tried to dispel any notion that their website is hosting content from illegal sources.
"We're pulling content from sources that are licensed. From a legal standpoint, what we're doing is okay. All files are streamed from legitimate sources -- we don't host anything. We only share cached results over peer-to-peer."
According to a Tweet from Sampson, he is being sued for around three million. Aurous does not appear to be backing down from the fight if their Twitter account is to be believed and are showing some humor despite having a major lawsuit incoming.
Don't worry, we're not going anywhere, empty lawsuits aren't going to stop the innovation of the next best media player.
— Aurous (@aurousapp) October 13, 2015
For anyone curious the @RIAA principle complaint is that we're "profiting", anyone see any ads? We sure don't. — Aurous (@aurousapp) October 13, 2015
Hey @RIAA @UMG and everyone else, we challenge every CEO to an arm wrestling competition, we win you drop your empty suit.
— Aurous (@aurousapp) October 13, 2015
