2008 Finalists: America's Best Young Entrepreneurs

Business Week

September 8, 2008

Grooveshark

Sam Tarantino, 21, and Josh Greenberg, 21
www.grooveshark.com
Gainesville, Fla.

Sam Tarantino and Josh Greenberg took a leave of absence from the University of Florida to start Grooveshark, a music sharing network designed to deliver a portion of download sales to the copyright holder, as well as to the person who uploaded it to the network. Tarantino likens it to a "secondary market" in which users can stream or purchase songs that others share on the network.

The pair started the business in March 2006 and launched a public beta version in September 2007. They've signed deals with more than 600 record labels that have allowed their music to be sold through the network. Grooveshark has 75,000 users, a number Tarantino says is now growing by 1,500 a day.

Tarantino says Grooveshark now has 23 full-time employees and backing from an angel investor and a venture firm, though he won't say how much has been invested. Describing Grooveshark as "pre-revenue," Tarantino expects the site to be profitable within 6 to 12 months from music-download sales and advertising. "We're looking at this thing to scale pretty quickly,"