Music Doesn't Crack The Pirate Bay's Top 100

There is good news and bad news when it comes to piracy. According to an MBW analysis of the newly returned online sharing site, music doesn't even crack the top 100 of most downloaded files.

That means that, like many have been saying for a while now (including me), piracy is no longer a major issue for the music business.

The bad news? It could mean that people don't care enough about music anymore to steal it, although I'm inclined to believe that it's more about the new streaming paradigm than anything.

So what dominates the top 100 most pirated files? As you can see from the chart on the left movies are about 50%, followed by television shows at 33%, porn at 9% and games and apps at 4%.

What were the top 5 most downloaded files?
1. Wild Card (movie)
2. The Interview (movie)
3. American Sniper (movie)
4. Nightcrawler (movie)
5. The Blacklist (television show)

The most pirated music?
1. True - Avicii (album)
2. "Shake It Off" - Taylor Swift (track)
3. "All of Me" - John Legend (track)
4. X - Chris Brown (album)

There will always be pirating of material that people can't either afford, think is too highly priced, or is inconvenient to get legally. As we've seen with music, once at least one of those barriers are broken, pirating decreases, except for in the case of some techies who will pirate things anyway just because they can.

Japan Gets Draconian On Piracy

If you're living in Japan and illegally download a file, you can now face up to 2 years in prison and a fine up to $25,000, thanks to a change in a law that was passed in 2010. But it's those who illegally upload a copyright infringing file that really have to worry, as the punishment is now a maximum of 10 years in prison and $125k fine. In theory, this punishment can be enforced over a single pirated file.

You can bet the music industry in countries around the world will be looking closely at how this law pans out. On one hand it seems incredibly harsh, and on the other, something so extreme might be the only way to stem the tide of illegal downloads, especially on the upload side.

If you listen to the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ), Japanese consumers illegally downloaded 4.36 billion music files illegally in 2010, while legally buying 440 million. The sounds suspiciously like the 10 to 1 ratio that the US RIAA has been using for some time (although sometimes they resort to an even higher 20 to 1 ratio). And as we all know, the RIAA's strategy of suing their own customers was a total failure as it didn't work and only resorted in very bad publicity for the industry.

But that was a civil matter, and while it carried some significant financial pain, there was no risk of going to jail. By changing this to a criminal matter, there is a different mindset involved as long as consumers are aware of the risk.

The question will be how the Japanese population will respond once its first 15 year old is sent to jail.

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How About $10 For a Copyright Violation?

When the RIAA chose to hammer illegal downloaders with lawsuits, much of the world yawned instead of quivered in fright. Wave after wave of bad publicity over a technique that clearly failed to stem the piracy tide finally caused the music industry to rethink the best way to stem the illegal file tide. And the solution? Be reasonable.

Many content owners are now using a small LA-based firm called Digital Rights Corp to monitor file-sharing sites, then contact the alleged copyright infringers with an offer - pay a mere $10 to settle up each infringement and we'll call it even. Refuse to pay and you may be liable for up to $150,000 because of copyright violations and be at risk of having your Internet service cut off.

This is what the letter states:

“If you click on the link below and login to the Rightscorp, Inc. automated settlement system, for $10 per infringement, you will receive a legal release from the copyright owner.”

The link directs the email recipient to a page where they are will get a settlement letter in exchange for $10.

Now don't forget, this isn't just a straight amount of $10; it's 10 bucks per infraction. That means that if you've illegally downloaded 250 songs, it'll cost you $2,500. That's still cheaper than facing an RIAA lawsuit, where that amount probably won't even cover the retainer for a good attorney.

But the real carrot on the stick is loss of Internet privileges, something that most people today can't live without. This is made possible by a portion of the Digital Millinium Copyright Act that requires an ISP to terminate a repeat copyright offender if notified. While we haven't seen this happen much so far, this may become a big part of the RIAA's playbook in the future, although many consumer advocates say that they'll fight such action. Ultimately, the Supreme Court might eventually be asked to resolve the issue.

Either way, it looks like we're moving into a new age in the fight against digital piracy. At least the tactics are more reasonable for a change.

You can read more on the subject in this article in paidcontent.org.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for discussion on common music, engineering and production tips and tricks.

The Hypocrisy Of EMI Using Rapidshare

The major labels and their lapdog association the RIAA have been relentlessly suing their customers for a number of years now, which just about everyone but the labels themselves have seen to be a futile and unjust effort. Sure, digital piracy takes revenue from the labels, artists, publishers and songwriters, and in a perfect world that wouldn't happen, but we live in a reality where music files are easily shared.

In fact, there's a theory that has some merit that says the more your music is stolen, the more you sell. Obviously the major labels don't share in this outlook. Or do they?

Now comes word that a number of emails obtained by MP3tunes.com's Michael Robertson (and founder of the original MP3.com) indicate that EMI used Rapidshare (a major source of illegal file sharing) to distribute their own copyrighted material in an effort to establish a viral marketing campaign. In other words, they illegally distributed their own music!

This is truly a blockbuster story in that it completely undermines the RIAA's premise that illegal file sharing is bad for business. After all, if it were that bad, then why would a label hope to start a viral buzz by doing it?

According to an article by Emil Petrolinski for Techspot.com:

In court, EMI is accusing MP3tunes of allowing illegal music downloads. The stance now appears to be highly hypocritical. The company distributed its music via file sharing websites and then sued users for downloading their music without paying. It has come to light that EMI employs a team of advertising people, artists, and agents who have placed together so many free music downloads on the Internet that EMI itself has trouble distinguishing between authorized and unauthorized links. It's thus no surprise that Robertson wants the 41-page lawsuit dismissed. The case could be closed as soon as January 2011.

This blockbuster revelation has flown somewhat under the radar, but could have massive ramifications for the RIAA, the major record labels, and the many lawsuits that they now have in progress. Let's see how it plays out.

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Follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for discussion on common music, engineering and production tips and tricks.

Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

The Music Industry Loses a Big Case

The music industry (which amounts to the major record labels) has long wanted your local ISP (Internet Service Provider) to bear the brunt of what amounted to their failings. For instance, the industry wants the ISPs to do their enforcing by cutting off the service of any subscriber involved in the industry's definition of piracy. They also want the ISPs to collect a tax on every subscriber to pay for their estimated loses to piracy, a practice that the services continue to resist.

Now comes word that a giant Irish ISP called UPC has won a landmark legal case against all four major music labels that may be a precedent for similar action here in the US. Warner Music, Universal Music, Sony BMG and EMI Records wanted to force UPC to implement a "three strikes" (the third time your caught you're cut off) system to combat copyright-infringing, music file-sharing Internet users subscribed to the ISP.

The Irish High Court has ruled that the laws that forced the ISPs to identify and cut off service to their customers were not enforceable in Ireland.

Although the court agreed that illegal downloading was bad for the record label's business and "ruins the ability of a generation of creative people in Ireland, and elsewhere, to establish a viable living,"any kind of forced enforcement by an ISP was not provided for in Irish law. The court ruling did leave some wiggle room for all involved though, but any changes must still come from a change in Irish law.

Although the labels have not been able to force a similar kind of enforcement in the US, RIAA lobbyists are furiously working behind the scenes to get new legislation passed. Luckily, there's a lot more pressing issues on congressional plates these days.

You can read more on the story here.

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Follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for discussion on common music, engineering and production tips and tricks.