David, Galper’s company, Ruckus, was an ad-based online music service that was made available to students and alumni in colleges and universities across the United States for free. This was the first online music service that was directly targeting the college market. The company was founded in 2003 by Vincent Han and David Galper raised $41.5 million in funds from venture capitalists Battery Ventures and Shelter Capital, but was later acquired in by Total Music in 2008. Total Music was a joint venture between Sony and Universal.
The Ruckus Network was based in Herndon, Virgina and officially launched in 2004 with a subscription based model at Northern Illinois University. In early 2006, the service switched over to an ad-subsidized business model that eliminated the monthly fee for site access. Prior to 2007, the service was only available at partner schools, but afterwards, they announced that the service could be used by anyone with a valid edu email account. By the end of 2008, Ruckus has grown to include users from over 1000 colleges and universities, 215 of those being official partners of the service.
