Grooveshark is dead.

Founded almost ten years ago, Grooveshark was one of the biggest players in free online streaming, catering to many many millions of users worldwide.

Of course, this was totally illegal, and after a six year legal battle with major labels including Sony, Warner and Universal, the company has officially disbanded. This includes any connected services and apps that ran alongside the site.

The company have issued a formal apology and farewell note on their website. It explains that when the company started, users didn’t have the streaming options now available to us – and suggests that users pay for services like Spotify, Google Play and Rhapsody.

The news follows last week’s news that Escape (the company who own Grooveshark) could be facing up to US$736 million in damages, the result of losing such a massive copyright case.

Here’s the note found on what’s left of Grooveshark: