Instead, Universal argued, state common law applies. (As a side note, at the end of last year, the U.S. Copyright Office performed a study at the request of Congress and recommended that pre-72 sound recordings be placed under federal jurisdiction).

FORBES: The Shark Bites Back -- Judge will hear Grooveshark's counterclaim against Universal

The team analyzed data on loudness, pitch and timbre from just under half a million tracks spanning 55 years, finding the average volume of recordings has increased in that time -- said to be the doing of record labels so songs stand out amongst other radio noise.

ENGADGET: Researchers prove your grandmother right, modern music is louder and all the same