Grooveshark Co-Founder Josh Greenberg Dead at 28
Josh Greenberg, one of two co-founders of the defunct music-sharing site Grooveshark, was found dead in his Gainesville, Fla. home Sunday night. His death was a shock to those who knew him—his mom and girlfriend both said he’d never been sick, and the Gainesville Sun reports police found no evidence of drugs or suicide. Greenberg was only 28.
He started Grooveshark with Sam Tarantino nearly 10 years ago, when they were both University of Florida freshmen. It was popular for a time, mostly because it provided access to pirated music, but its best feature was also its downfall—Grooveshark finally shut down in April 2015 after a four-year legal battle involving all four major record labels.
The company suffered from allegations of executive incompetence and frattishness—mostly against Greenberg’s co-founder, Tarantino, and the bunch of “smooth-tongued PR fucks” he worked with. At one point in 2013, Tarantino declared himself “like literally broke” as a result of the music industry lawsuit.
All of which is to say it’s not surprising that Greenberg’s mom told the Sun he was more relieved than depressed that Grooveshark’s time was finally over. She said he was excited about working on new projects, including a new mobile music app, an app for scheduling cleaning services, and teaching people how to code.
A medical examiner’s autopsy didn’t find the cause of Greenberg’s death. Toxicology results could provide answers, but not for another two to three weeks.
