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More Than One Third of Music Consumers Still Pirate Music (theguardian.com)

Posted by msmash on from the closer-look dept.

More than one-third of global music listeners are still pirating music, according to a new report by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). From a report: While the massive rise in legal streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music and Tidal was thought to have stemmed illegal consumption, 38% of listeners continue to acquire music through illegal means. The most popular form of copyright infringement is stream-ripping (32%): using easily available software to record the audio from sites like YouTube at a low-quality bit rate. Downloads through "cyberlocker" file hosting services or P2P software like BitTorrent came second (23%), with acquisition via search engines in third place (17%).

5 of 167 comments (clear)

  1. Does someone still believe their research? by NuclearCat · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Because it is extremely beneficial for them to put the situation in such a way , so it is easier to introduce new taxes, new draconian measures to restrict the rights to backup copies, to limit the ways of reproduction and etc.
    Their greed has no limits

    1. Re:Does someone still believe their research? by commodore64_love · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Beat me to it. I was just about to post "Sounds like Made-up Statistics". I used to download music from piratebay, but not anymore. I get a ton of song in my Amazon Prime account, and if the song is not there, it's available from Youtube or Vimeo or some other legitimate source.

      > The most popular form of copyright infringement is stream-ripping (32%)... from sites like YouTube at a low-quality bit rate.

      So basically the modern version of Cassette-recording off the radio. Even if the stream-ripping was blocked, these people have NO intention of buying the music legally. Claiming these customers as "lost sales" is ridiculous. (Especially since many of them are children or teens with no money.)

      .

      --
      "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
  2. Re:Why so low? by Comboman · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Or new music is crap and I already ripped/pirated everything I'll ever want to listen to decades ago.

    --
    Support Right To Repair Legislation.
  3. Re:Why so low? by alvinrod · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I generally don't bother to pirate most media anymore. I'm perfectly fine with paying for it, especially if I get a DRM-free digital copy or I get access to a streaming service that doesn't include any commercials. If you make it easy for consumers to pay for what they want (i.e. don't insist on bundling content with things I don't want) most people are more than willing to pay.

    As you get older, your time becomes more valuable and you have a higher income. Paying $5 on Amazon or Apple, or $10 a month for Netflix is ultimately less expensive than trying to a functional pirated stream somewhere else online or dredging through seedy websites to find warez that isn't a malware-infested mess.

  4. Moving the bar by MightyYar · · Score: 3, Insightful

    What kind of fools do they think we are? We've been taping stuff off of the radio since before I was born in the 70s. Now we listen to music through YouTube and "tape" off of that instead. Only in the mind of an IP lawyer is there some kind of moral distinction here. I'll do this until it is technically infeasible to do so, and I'll sleep just fine at night.

    --
    W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.