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Grooveshark co-founder, 28, found dead in home

gainesville.com

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Re: Grooveshark co-founder, 28, found dead in home

#121

Post by aagha »

This news both both shocking and painful.

When I started my company, Josh was the first person to take a chance with our nacent technology.

When Grooveshark recently shut down, I sent him a note telling him how sad I was to hear about their great service being shut down, and referneced roosevelt's The Man in the Arena poem.

Josh wrote back:

> Thanks man… I appreciate the kind words and also absolutely love that quote. > We’re not done yet… Grooveshark’s chapter is over but I’m at least happy to be free of the dark cloud and excited to move onto new things. > Onward and upward… > This is my personal email address by the way, so please do keep in touch. > Best of luck with everything at Metrical… hang in there. > Josh

Always positive, supportive and kind, he was a mentor to me despite our considerable age difference. I'll miss him.

Re: Grooveshark co-founder, 28, found dead in home

#123

Post by swombat »

biot wrote: post #83
swombat wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll probably get downvoted to oblivion for this, but who cares... I think paying money that ends up in the pockets of large record companies who then spend that money to pass laws that break the internet is morally reprehensible. I think buying music in this day and age is immoral. The faster the music industry collapses, the better off we all are. I am sorry if some artists have to pay for this too in some way, but…

That's a perfectly fine position. However, if the record companies are so abhorrent, isn't Step 0 to stop listening to their music at all? Plus a Step 2 being some form of action to attempt to change the situation. Without that Step 0, it's a bit like saying "I hate Big Theater" while sneaking in the back door to enjoy the movies.

No, I don't think that's a valid Step 0. Here's a simple counter-argument:

If we were talking about Air Companies instead of Record Companies, you wouldn't say that Step 0 is to stop breathing air. You'd agree that in an environment where "stealing air" without a licence has been criminalised in some way, it is nevertheless acceptable to continue breathing even if it's illegal and costing revenues from the Air Companies.

So then the question reduces to: how comparable is music to air?

Obviously that depends on the person, but I'd argue that it's precisely those for whom music is most important, who have a relationship to music similar to one's relationship to air: it's a necessary part of life. Those are precisely the people most likely to still be spending significant sums of money supporting the record companies, and my argument is that those people have a moral duty to stop supporting the record companies.

Much like in the air analogy, though, that doesn't mean that Step 0 is for them to stop breathing or listening to music. I think Step 0, 1, 2, 3 and all the rest, consist of operating as if the record companies did not exist, and wait them out. Once the record companies have gone bust, we can start again with a system that's worth supporting.

Just my opinion, but I think it's very defensible.

Re: Grooveshark co-founder, 28, found dead in home

#124

Post by ectoplasm »

swombat wrote: post #123
biot wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a perfectly fine position. However, if the record companies are so abhorrent, isn't Step 0 to stop listening to their music at all? Plus a Step 2 being some form of action to attempt to change the situation. Without that Step 0, it's a bit like saying "I hate Big Theater" while sneaking in the back door to enjoy the movies.

No, I don't think that's a valid Step 0. Here's a simple counter-argument: If we were talking about Air Companies instead of Record Companies, you wouldn't say that Step 0 is to stop breathing air. You'd agree that in an environment where "stealing air" without a licence has been criminalised in some way, it is nevertheless acceptable to continue breathing even if it's illegal and costing revenues from the Air Compan…

It isn't all man vs. the machine. There are viable ways to give artists money without giving it to record companies. You can also buy music secondhand without giving money to record companies. And not every record company is evil, it's mostly the Big Five (or however many it is these days); there are thousands of non-subsidiary record companies that are totally friendly.

Re: Grooveshark co-founder, 28, found dead in home

#125

Post by mintplant »

Shrugs wrote: post #109
zbruhnke wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what part of Louisiana are you from? I don't meet many others from my neck of the woods in tech

Slidell. I went to school at LaTech for a year and a half. I I recently found a fellow Google intern who's from Slidell as well, but we'd never met previously because we went to rival highschools.

Wow, I never thought I'd run into someone else from Slidell on here. Did you go to Northshore High, by any chance?

Re: Grooveshark co-founder, 28, found dead in home

#126

Post by biot »

swombat wrote: post #123
biot wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a perfectly fine position. However, if the record companies are so abhorrent, isn't Step 0 to stop listening to their music at all? Plus a Step 2 being some form of action to attempt to change the situation. Without that Step 0, it's a bit like saying "I hate Big Theater" while sneaking in the back door to enjoy the movies.

No, I don't think that's a valid Step 0. Here's a simple counter-argument: If we were talking about Air Companies instead of Record Companies, you wouldn't say that Step 0 is to stop breathing air. You'd agree that in an environment where "stealing air" without a licence has been criminalised in some way, it is nevertheless acceptable to continue breathing even if it's illegal and costing revenues from the Air Compan…

While one cannot stop breathing air, if there are thousands upon thousands of "air artists" and a handful of Big Air Companies, one can stop breathing air from artists who distribute their air through the Big Air Companies and switch to breathing air from small, independent air artists who distribute their air directly to consumers.

I don't see it as a breathe or don't breathe dichotomy. Plenty of independent artists one can support, assuming you find their air quality palatable.

Re: Grooveshark co-founder, 28, found dead in home

#127

Post by bigtunacan »

mahranch wrote: post #31
Udo wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article pretty much rules this out, no idea where you got the foul play angle from: > " Lori Greenberg, his mother, said Monday he had no health problems and she was told by police who investigated Sunday night that there was no evidence of foul play, injuries or drugs. "

That's a bit misleading. It says there was no evidence of drugs but then goes on to say that the toxicology report would take 2-3 months. They probably just didn't see any drugs lying around. If he didn't have some sort of undiagnosed medical condition, he may have very well OD'd on something. Research chemicals, xanax and opiate combo, etc... It's fairly common for people to OD on those things and they're all readil…

Toxicology results often take that long depending on how extensive the testing. Also people always jump right to the conclusion that drug abuse is suspected when they hear this. In a person his age and health with an unexpected death this type of test can be pretty standard and is often at the discretion of next of kin. These tests can help determine drug interactions and maybe assist someone in the future.

To give an anecdotal story. I use Diazepam to control muscle spasms and cramps caused by a neurological disorder.

I took my kids to an amusement park and took Dramamine (over the counter motion sickness medication) so I wouldn't get sick on the rides. About 20 minutes later I was a complete zombie, so bad I sat down and could not get back up because I was in such a stupor.

Turns out these two drugs have some serious interactions with each other, including sudden death and heart failure. To this day I consider myself lucky.

Re: Grooveshark co-founder, 28, found dead in home

#128

Post by physcab »

tmountain wrote: post #100

I worked with Josh for over five years at Grooveshark. The day I applied for the job, he spent several hours pitching the company to me with rampant enthusiasm in hopes that I'd take a risk (and a huge pay cut) and come work with the team. From the day I took the job, I watched Josh tirelessly run through his pitch time and time again, always with the same attention to detail, and the same level of genuine interest i…

Really glad you got to see Josh, Travis. I too remember "this too shall pass" and all the optimism he shared. I'm a bit jealous you got pitched by Josh to join Grooveshark because by the time I joined, I had to pitch him! And he somehow convinced me that working at Grooveshark was a privilege (it was) and I would be happy being the intern until my employee status was granted. I'm pretty sure I bear hugged Josh the day he told me I was going to receive a paycheck! ha! Among all the lessons Josh taught me, the most important one was that persistence pays off. And without a doubt, Josh had determination in spades.

Such a sad day.

Re: Grooveshark co-founder, 28, found dead in home

#129

Post by steveax »

braythwayt wrote: post #117
simoncion wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would have no problem with public speculation about the manner of or motives behind the death of any of my friends or family. Most speculation is a bunch of hot air, but such threads also provide a place to talk about the deceased and his works, and to talk about other, related things. I, for one, appreciate the vast majority of conversation attached to this HN post.

On several scuba and climbing sites I visit, there is a strict separation between mourning a death and speculating/analyzing the cause. It may be a little different here, but the experience with risky sports is that a thread examining the cause may include suggestions that the person was somewhat at fault. Many of the people mourning someones passing would prefer such discussions not be interleaved with celebrating t…

First, my condolences to friends and family. Josh clearly touched a lot of people in his life. And Yes, it's a terrific custom. Remember there will probably be many folks who knew Josh that might stumble into this discussion (I hope so, as the testimonials might provide some comfort.)

Re: Grooveshark co-founder, 28, found dead in home

#130

Post by simoncion »

mbillie1 wrote: post #119
simoncion wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would have no problem with public speculation about the manner of or motives behind the death of any of my friends or family. Most speculation is a bunch of hot air, but such threads also provide a place to talk about the deceased and his works, and to talk about other, related things. I, for one, appreciate the vast majority of conversation attached to this HN post.

> I would have no problem with public speculation about the manner of or motives behind the death of any of my friends or family. Perhaps not, but speculating on cause of death is nonetheless considered in extremely poor taste. Most people _would_ have a problem with it.

> ...speculating on cause of death is nonetheless considered in extremely poor taste.

This feeling is far from universal. Never forget that most of us live in our own social bubble.

It would very be nice if -as braythwayt mentioned a little bit earlier- we could section off speculation from condolences and remembrances. Unfortunately, HN -with its relatively short lived posts, flat posting namespace, and votes-make-topics-stick-on-the-frontpage mechanism- is not able to meet this need.

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