Google-owned YouTube is cracking down on Discord music robots. Google has issued a cease-and-desist order to Groovy Bot's owners. This popular Groovy bot lets Discord users listen to music from YouTube videos. It is installed on over 16 million Discord servers. Google demands that the service be removed within seven days. Groovy will comply by closing down its bot on August 30, 2013.
Over the past five years, Groovy has been an integral part of my daily life. In a message, Nik Ammerlaan (owner of Groovy Bot), announced the closure. "It started because my friend bot was terrible and I thought I could create a better one," he said. Groovy Bot uses music from YouTube to allow Discord users the ability to share and play it on servers that have the bot installed.
Groovy Bot lets you host a Discord social listening party, mostly using audio from YouTube videos. It has been extremely popular in the last five years. Some estimates suggest that it may have more than 250 million users. Google and YouTube have now taken notice.
Ammerlaan, in an interview with The Verge, said that he isn't sure why they sent it [a cease-and-desist] now. It's possible they didn't know, to be truthful. Ammerlaan said that Groovy Bot had been a heavy burden on his shoulders for the past five-years and that Google's actions were something he always saw coming. Ammerlaan says it was just a matter if he could see when it would happen.
Groovy Bot is compatible with Spotify, YouTube and Soundcloud. However, around 98 percent of Groovy's tracks were downloaded from YouTube. Ammerlaan admits that Groovy Bot does not support Soundcloud. Google's decision to take Groovy Bot offline may mean that other Discord bot owners will be subject to similar actions.
Rythm is the most used Discord music bot. Jet, co-owner of Rythm, sent a message to the community to say that we don't plan to close down. Rythm has been installed on almost 20 million Discord servers. It claims it now has over 560 million users.
We attempted to contact Rythm's owner, but after initial responses the owner didn't respond to our requests regarding whether Google had issued cease and desist. It is hard to imagine Google allowing Rythm to continue if it is unhappy with GroovyBot.
Groovy Bot's shutdown comes just weeks after many YouTube video download sites disappeared. This bot's removal leaves Discords bot offerings with a huge hole. A spokesperson for Discord stated that we take the rights and obligations of others and ask developers to create bots on Discord. Discord or a third party may take legal action if a bot running on Discord infringes the rights of another person.
We tried to reach Google for comment on the cease-and-desist order against Groovy bot, but Google did not respond to our request in time.
