EMI Music has suspended its contract with music streaming site Grooveshark, owned by Escape Media Group three months after claiming that the company is suing Grooveshark for not paying royalties.
In a complaint filed last January in a New York State Supreme Court, the label group said the service owes $300,000 including interest for nonpayment on a promissory note.
Grooveshark however said it had paid over $2.6m to EMI, but noted that streaming rates were "unsustainable".
The contract termination is likely to mean Grooveshark cannot use the majority of licensed music belonging to EMI and its subsidiaries from the site.
Last year, Grooveshark said: "Grooveshark was recently forced to make the difficult decision to part ways with EMI due to EMI’s currently unsustainable streaming rates and EMI’s pending merger with Universal Music Group, which we consider monopolistic and in violation of anti-trust laws."
Sony, Universal and Warner are also taking Grooveshark site to court for allegedly pirating thousands of music tracks through its streaming service, reports the BBC.
US-based Grooveshark has over 30 million users who listen to their favorite music, create playlists, discover new tunes, and share it all with friends through Facebook, Twitter, social news sites, and more, according to the company.
