Music – 10 hours ago

Photo Credit: Zippyshare

The era of music file-sharing is ending. After 17 years of existence, free file-sharing website Zippyshare has announced that they’ll be shutting down, citing that they can no longer afford to keep the service afloat. Launched in 2006, the website generates revenue through advertisements and is also one of the largest music file-sharing online platforms, receiving 43 million visitors monthly.

“We’ve decided that we’re shutting down the project at the end of the month. Please make backups of your important files, you have about two weeks to do so. Until then, the site will run without any changes,” a message on the Zippyshare blog reads.

zippyshare is shutting down https://t.co/p96JDN2eny pic.twitter.com/HSBRU9yr1V

— MtH (@emmnyaa) March 20, 2023

The service also mentioned that music listeners have seemingly moved on to newer, subscription based platforms.

“I guess all the competing file storage service companies on the market look better, offer better performance and more features. No one needs a dinosaur like us anymore,” the announcement continued.

Operators also shared that due to rising costs for ad blockers and declining revenue, that ZS can no longer maintain its infrastructure.

“There are still a bunch of smaller reasons, but we could write a book on this, and probably no one would want to read it,” the website added.

ZS shared that users can email them at support@zippyshare.com, although operators admitted that they’ll respond to “just a few.” Despite being one of the last music file-sharing entities of its kind, ZS was previously listed in U.S. Trade Representative Office’s “notorious markets” 2015 report for distributing copyright-protected music without a license.