A free music listening platform that combines the best of YouTuwbe music and Spotify has temporarily suspended services only two weeks after launch.
The platform, called Wefre, provided a Spotify like interface, but sources all music from legally uploaded YouTube music videos, allowing users to enjoy music streaming without having to pay for it, or to use YouTube's interface.
But two weeks after launch, and some 16,000 new user sign-ups, the people behind the start-up has called it quits, for now, blaming the platform's surging popularity, and the legal cloud hanging over the service.
The legal cloud exists because Wefre allows users to listen to YouTube music videos without the video part being shown, which may be a violation of YouTube's terms of service. In addition, the license holders that uploaded these music videos legally would most likely disagree with how it is being used on Wefre, with little or no revenue being generated and passed onto them.
The creators of the site were keen to point out that they had not received any legal threats so far in regards to the site, they have decided to take the more cautions approach and suspend all services until an unspecified time.
And while Wefre's legal status questionable, it's popularity isn't. The Spotify-like interface over YouTube music videos is a huge hit with users, but it also became a huge hit on server resources, with the operators of the site unable to keep it running smoothly, further adding to the need to close the site, for now.
"We will ensure that we don't broke any law and we will come back with new features, stronger and without technical problems," a post on the website now reads.
While the above statement appears to be quite definitive, Wefre's future is most likely in serious doubt, as neither YouTube, nor rights-holders, or even Spotify (due to the site's uncanny resemblance to Spotify's), will be happy to see Wefre prosper. At their expense, they might say.
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