music piracy

While the RIAA has a track record of going after individual file-sharers and services such as LimeWire, the music industry has never targeted any file-sharing sites.

According to figures from the Recording Industry of South Africa (RISA), artists and the recording industry lose millions to music piracy every year, a claim echoed by the RIAA and every other RI-XX group in their respective homes worldwide.

Last month a man in South Africa was arrested and discovered to be in possession of logins and passwords which he used to download products directly from Sony Music Entertainment’s computer systems.

But it’s when items like these are burned to disc and sent out onto the streets that the real action begins.

DRM only hurts legitimate customers.

The phrase above has been written a few dozen times here on TorrentFreak, and it’s now supported by an academic report.

Researchers from Rice and Duke University looked into the effect of digital restrictions on music piracy.

In their paper “Music Downloads and the Flip Side of Digital Rights Management Protection” they conclude that DRM doesn’t prevent piracy at all.

Quite the opposite.

When Spotify launched their first beta in the fall of 2008, we branded it “an alternative to music piracy.”

Having the option to stream millions of tracks supported by an occasional ad, or free of ads for a small monthly fee, Spotify appeared to be serious competitor to music piracy.

Data just released by the Swedish Music industry appears to support this theory.

Yesterday, PaidContent published a report on Digital Rights Corp, an LA-based firm who monitor file-sharing networks for infringements and contact alleged pirates asking for money.

It’s 2011, what’s new?

In the United States, United Kingdom and parts of Europe, there is an increasing momentum from the copyright lobby in favor of legislation which allows for the blocking of file-sharing sites at the ISP level.

Where new laws prove politically dangerous, the big entertainment companies are seeking voluntary agreements with ISPs to achieve the same end result.

Leaks of albums on the Internet are hardly a new phenomenon but while most labels suppress their anger, London-based Ninja Tune have taken the opposite approach by naming and shaming the people they believe are responsible.

Ninja Tune, the label founded by DJs Matt Black and Jonathan More (better known as Coldcut), say that after sending watermarked promo CDs to Germany-based Backspin magazine earlier this month, two albums leaked online.

When Spotify launched their first beta in the fall of 2008, we branded it “an alternative to music piracy.”

Having the option to stream millions of tracks supported by an occasional ad, or free of ads for a small monthly fee, Spotify appeared to be serious competitor to music piracy.

The music industry has witnessed some dramatic changes in recent years, even when piracy is left out of the picture.

In just a decade the Internet and the MP3 revolution have redefined people’s music consumption habits.