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Grooveshark's HTML5 app goes international

The music-sharing service saw its app banned from Google so now the company is trying to make sure that won't happen again anywhere in the world.

Greg Sandoval Former Staff writer
Greg Sandoval covers media and digital entertainment for CNET News. Based in New York, Sandoval is a former reporter for The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. E-mail Greg, or follow him on Twitter at @sandoCNET.
Greg Sandoval
2 min read
A screen shot from Grooveshark's new app. Grooveshark

Grooveshark is making sure that its music Web app will play on any device and anywhere in the world.

A spokeswoman for the music service told CNET today that starting tomorrow, the company will make its HTML5 Web app available globally. The new app will make it possible to access the service on iOS and Android Web browsers and anywhere in the world.

Last month, the company rolled out the Web app in the United States after Grooveshark's original app was banned from Google Play. Google hasn't detailed why it booted the app but Grooveshark's legal disputes with the top four record companies are believed to be at the root of it.

Grooveshark's service, which allows users to upload their music to the cloud and share it with others, is controversial. Universal Music Group has accused Grooveshark in a lawsuit of copyright violations.

Of the four major music-recording companies, Grooveshark has only managed to license songs from EMI. But EMI invalidated the agreement because it claims Grooveshark has not kept up with payments. EMI has also now accused Grooveshark of infringing its copyrights.

Grooveshark's HTML5 app won't initially be available in some big overseas markets, according to Danika Azzarelli, the company's spokeswoman.

She said that the app won't be accessible initially in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Brazil, and Canada but they will be soon.

Azzarelli said: "We're excited to no longer have to alienate anyone based on what cell phone they have, where they are, or what device they are using."