Controversial music-streaming platform, Grooveshark, which essentially allows users unlimited access to content on a tenuous ad-based platform was recently infused with some legitimacy by artists at SXSW.

While Grooveshark has been a hit among along music-listeners for some time now, it was not particularly clear how artists whose music could have been uploaded by users without permission (although Grooveshark promises to pull anything down upon request) felt about the service. A number of exclusive sessions performed for Grooveshark cameras this year at SXSW by top indie acts would seem to indicate, however, that artists are taking to the service.

A number of recent exclusive sessions from artists including Fitz and the Tantrums, Sondre Lerche, and Larry and his Flask have popped up on the internet.

Grooveshark maintains a Grooveshark Artists page where artists can control their content on the streaming site and also download detailed analytics reports of their pages, something which allows the often mysterious quantity of music streamed for free across the internet to take shape for interested parties.