Musi, a free music app which pulls its content from YouTube, has been removed from Apple’s App Store. The music industry has been putting pressure on Apple to cut off access to Musi for some time, though it’s possible that an intervention from YouTube actually prompted the app’s removal from the iOS ecosystem.
A post from Musi’s support team on Reddit states, “The app is currently unavailable while we address some comments relating to the App Store. We don’t have an estimated time as to when it’ll be back but rest assured this has our top attention!”
Global record industry trade group IFPI has been calling for Musi to be removed from the App Store since at least summer 2023. As far as the labels are concerned, Musi is an unlicensed music service that is also circumventing YouTube’s technical protection measures, itself a violation of the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
Lawyers working for Musi have pushed back against those allegations, insisting that the app is simply facilitating access to music that is already available online, and adding that Musi itself doesn’t host any music content on its servers.
From a European perspective, there might be a case for arguing that Musi is still communicating music to the public, even though the music is actually streaming from YouTube’s servers, and therefore the app needs its own music licences.
In the US, the legal arguments are possibly stronger regarding YouTube’s technical protection measures, which are designed to stop people from accessing content stored on the video platform’s servers other than through its own website and apps. The fact that circumventing such measures violates the DMCA has become key in US-based legal battles between the music industry and stream ripping sites.
The music industry has long wished that YouTube itself would do more to tackle entities that are circumventing its technical protection measures, and maybe it now is.
While it’s known that other music industry trade groups have joined the IFPI in calling on Apple to remove Musi from the App Store - including the US National Music Publishers Association - Torrentfreak says it has seen documentation that suggests YouTube also got involved.
YouTube’s intervention may be the result of specific pressure from the music industry, although it does have a vested interest in discouraging consumers from accessing music via unofficial free services, as the operator of a paid-for music subscription platform.
Existing Musi users on iOS devices can continue to use the app, but people can’t install it new. It remains to be seen if Musi can alter its service in some way to address any specific issues that were raised by Apple when the app was removed from its store. If not, it could try to circumvent the Apple system and/or mount a legal bid to be returned to the store.