Juliana Zammit
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) has been working behind the scenes to get the playlist app ‘Musi’ removed from Apple’s App store, according to a published report.
Musi: inside the Dragons’ Den
In 2016, Musi launched after a pair of 19-year-olds appeared on Dragons’ Den investment reality show. With the judges interest, two of them offered an investment in the concept. Despite appearing on the show, the duo behind the app did not close a final investment because their ‘dragon’ declined to invest for future pre-caution
80% of teens prefer the Musi app
Musi has been downloaded more than 66 million times —making Musi more popular than other music streaming apps like Pandora, Audiomack, and Deezer. It was the top-grossing iOS app in North America for February 2024, based on ad revenue from analytics platform Pixalate. Pixalate estimates the app has raked in over $107 million in programmatic ad revenue since January 2023.
Although Musi is regularly ranked in the top 5 music streaming apps on the App Store, many believe the app is doing more harm than good.
A group of teens at a Chicago high school were asked why 80% prefer the app – they all had the same reason: it is free, doesn’t interrupt music to play ads and has a broad catalogue of music. This allows the app to attract a young user base.
Vevo says it plans to take action against the app. “We have recently been made aware of the music video app Musi. Music videos on the app have not been licensed by Vevo and Musi is using the Vevo mark on its service without license—Vevo will take appropriate measures,” company spokesperson Evelyn Swiderski said.
Grey area and lawsuits
Musi does not host the videos on its app is an area of mystery in its business practices. Rather, it functions as a YouTube stream wrapper, with videos showing up inside Musi’s basic user interface. The software itself continuously plays audio from playlists, but when the music is playing, video advertisements appear within the app. The software contains banner adverts, but users can pay $5.99 to have all advertising removed.
Musi sued an internet ad network in 2019 on the basis that it was not paid for the advertisements it ran within the app. However, the ad network claimed in a countercomplaint filed in November 2019 that it stopped payments after learning that Musi’s company was dubious. That counter-complaint claims that Musi was “knowingly and illegally ripping music off of YouTube.” In 2020, a judge allowed Musi’s plea to have that case dismissed without prejudice.
Be a Karen – in a good way
The IFPI advises any record labels hoping to remove the app to file a complaint with Apple against the software. In addition, they should submit a complaint with YouTube in an attempt to force the app developers to take action, while the IFPI determines whether or not it would be possible to sue Musi in light of the information in hand.
Even if Musi eventually gets removed, a number of clones of Musi that could create playlists without being restricted by YouTube’s API could potentially take its place
