Music piracy: "stream ripping" is booming
The online piracy practice of "stream ripping" increased by 1.39% between 2016 and 2019 in the UK alone. These are the findings of a study conducted by software company Incopro on behalf of PRS for Music.
In stream ripping, pirates make audio recordings of music streams to create their own offline copies.
Mostly permitted in Germany
"By using converters, users make a copy of the piece of music. To do this, they generally need the consent of the author or rights holder, otherwise they are committing a copyright infringement. However, there are exceptions," explains media lawyer Christian Solmecke to the news portal Press release. In Germany, private individuals are allowed to make individual copies for private use as long as the originals were not created illegally. According to Solmecke, stream ripping is therefore usually permitted on YouTube in particular.
Incopro analyzed data from over 17,000 piracy websites for the study, including 100 of the most popular sites for stream ripping. The analysts compared this data with a similar study from 2016. Of the 50 most popular music piracy sites, 80 percent engage in stream ripping. In 2016, this figure was still twelve percent.
Harmful to artists' finances
Piracy through BitTorrent sites is going out of fashion due to geoblocking and stricter regulation by license holders. Only six out of the 50 most popular sources for music pirates are such websites. In 2016, this proportion was still 14. Stream ripping takes place primarily on YouTube. 70 of the 100 most popular sites steal content exclusively from the video platform. The Spotify app is in second place.
According to PRS for Music, stream ripping is very damaging to the financial situation of artists. The coronavirus crisis has made live performances almost impossible. And even before the pandemic, music streams accounted for around 20 percent of revenue. "The popularity of stream ripping has had a severe and direct effect on royalties paid to artists. Every time a stream is recorded, the user is listening to music outside of the licensing ecosystem," warns Simon Bourn, Head of IP and Litigation at PRS for Music. (pte)
