The music industry it’s known for its numerous ups and down, which are directly connected to the record sales. Over the past several years, many turned their focus to online activities, opening up virtual stores for selling tunes. The initiative was widely received with great enthusiasm by customers and the companies involved in the business. There have been tried out several formats, depending on the targeted segment. Still, some did not manage to turn it into a successful business. One of the companies that was forced to get out of the game is TotalMusic LLC, that was behind the Ruckus music service, with its Web page shutting down over the weekend.

The company introduced a new project in 2007, looking to attract the major record labels to provide a subscription music service directly to ISPs. The strategy was to bring some true competition for iTunes and also address the illegal file sharing matter. One year later, in 2008, the company bought Ruckus, which was a company that provided free, ad-supported, DRM limited music to college students. The service was released back in 2004 but did not manage to make a strong impact on the market.

The service appeared to provide a great solution to the infringement issues, which were continuously reported in numerous campuses, with students illegally sharing music. Focused on the measures needed to resolve the situation, Ruckus found a win – win - win format, making its revenue from advertising, bringing significant revenue to the music industry and offering students free music.

Through the new concept introduced, the company charged university students $15 per semester for its DRM-ed tunes. The company managed to sign partnerships with 80 colleges and universities, and five statewide network systems. It was also supporting more than 200 higher education institutions. Since its release in 2004, Ruckus raised close to $43 million in venture capital. Ruckus also offered some social networking features which included shared playlists, message boards, and song recommendations.

Still, the tough competition got the best of Ruckus, as other services such as Last.fm, introducing their own new ad-supported streaming services attracted most of its user base. The attempt to revive its popularity by opening the service to anyone with a .edu e-mail address did not deliver the expected results. The collapsing advertising market was also a major factor in the decision to terminate the project.

Aside from Ruckus’ closing, TotalMusic appears to be also preparing for shut down.

Jason Herskowitz, TotalMusic's Vice President of Product Management, released some comments on his blog page about the recent events, saying that "The problem is that to make a music service a win for everyone, then they all of the famished participants have to sit at the table - and be content to let all the others have a little bit to eat, even though they are still hungry themselves."

The Web site has now been replaced with only a graphic that says "Unfortunately the Ruckus service will no longer be provided. Thanks."