Grooveshark, an online music service akin to YouTube, fired back Tuesday at Google for removing it from Android app store, saying the company’s service complies with the law.

Google removed Grooveshark’s app from its open market last week, upon a complaint from the RIAA that the app violated the app store’s Terms of Service.

Grooveshark allows users to upload music, which can then be streamed to other users’ computers — exactly like Google’s YouTube does for video. And like Google, it takes down copyright infringing uploads when notified under the DMCA, the company said in an open letter published by Digital Music News. So far Grooveshark says it has removed 1.76 million tracks and banned more than 20,000 users.

Grooveshark says its also striking licensing deals, and has signed with more than 1,000 labels, the three major U.S. performance rights groups.

These are not the characteristics of a company ‘dedicated to copyright infringement’. As we work with artists and labels to make more content available to our users, Grooveshark becomes more competitive as an alternative to piracy.[...]

We will defend our name and our ideals for the sake of our users who expect modern delivery systems and comprehensive access across devices, for the sake of artists and content owners who fear another decade of decline, and for other innovators who continue to bring new ideas to market through the expression of creativity in the form of technology.

We ask that Google and Apple, embrace the spirit of competition and do right by users in making our applications available to consumers immediately.

For Android users who don’t want to rely on the vagaries of a supposedly open app store, you can download the app directly from Grooveshark’s mobile page. Unless, of course, you are using an Android device from AT&T, which locks down its supposedly open-source device so heavily that you can’t install apps not from the Android market.

As for the Apple app store, which pulled Grooveshark’s last August, well,  good luck with that one, Grooveshark.

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Grooveshark’s removal.