Josh Greenberg, the 28-year-old co-founder of music streaming service Grooveshark, has been found dead inside his Florida home.
The young entrepreneur’s body was discovered by his girlfriend on Monday, three months after the streaming site was officially shut down.
Grooveshark’s collapse followed a lengthy legal battle with major labels, and the company shut up shop in April after agreeing to give Universal, Warner and Sony a multi-million dollar payout for “failing to secure proper licensing for the music it provided users for free”.
But it is currently not believed that Grooveshark’s recent demise played a part in Greenberg’s mysterious death, with Police in his hometown of Gainesville reporting via tweet that there was “no evidence of foul play or suicide”. In fact, his mum even told the The Gainesville Sun that her son had been relieved rather than depressed about Grooveshark’s collapse.
“He was excited about potential new things that he was going to start,” she said, adding that he had “never been sick a day in his life” and was on no medications. She also reported that police did not find any evidence of injuries or drugs, and are “as baffled as I am.”
Mrs. Greenberg said the medical examiner’s autopsy found no explanation whatsoever for a cause of death, but toxicology results would be back in two or three months.
Josh Greenberg co-founded Grooveshark with Sam Tarantino when he was 19, in his first year as a student at the University of Florida. At its peak, the company had up to 40 million users a month and 145 employees on its books.
The technological wunderkind also helped develop MaidSuite, an online app to help service companies schedule appointments, as well as TapShield, an app that offers “enhanced 911 functionality to smartphones and emergency responders”.
Josh Greenberg, co-founder of #Grooveshark was found dead in his Gainesville home Sunday evening. No evidence of foul play or suicide.
— gainesvillepd (@GainesvillePD) July 20, 2015
