Streaming is often said to be not only the future but the present of music, with large and successful streaming services playing an important part in reducing the level of โpiracyโ affecting the music industry.
However, there are those who still canโt access these platforms authorized to provide copyrighted music โ Spotify, for example, is not available everywhere in the world.
Then there are those who canโt or wonโt pay, and those who like to have their music physically downloaded to their device.
This is where some fairly simple software, known as โstream rippers,โ comes in. An entire ecosystem of websites has sprung around these programs, allowing users to easily download videos from YouTube (and other platforms) and also convert them into video and audio files.
Needless to say, the music industry in the US eventually picked up on this and decided to clamp down.
RIAA, the US recording industryโs trade body, attacked the problem via Google, by sending DMCA takedown notices to the giant to remove links to the websites in question.
TorrentFreak describes these notices as โrelatively rareโ as theyโre based on DMCAโs anti-circumvention rule.
So far, thousands of URLs have been targeted in hundreds of notices, and Google is complying.
However, ripping sites are adapting by โcontinuously using new URL structuresโ and remain discoverable on Google.
And as this โwhack-a-moleโ game continuous, RIAA has found its first ally: itโs the British music industryโs trade association, BPI.
The text of the BPI takedown notices sent to Google is the exact same as what RIAA dispatches (minus a corrected typo, and changed spelling, from US to British, of a single word).
Both sets of notices mention that the sites circumvent โYouTubeโs rolling cipher, a technical protection measureโ that should prevent downloads from YouTube.
Perhaps the industry should ask YouTube to come up with a better โrolling cipherโ? Or perhaps they should stop using YouTube as a free platform for promotion, and then complain and kick up a DMCA storm when somebody downloads that content? Not to mention that not all content on YouTube is copyrighted.
These were some thoughts readers have had over on TorrentFreak, which also notes that BPIโs target, the site Mpgun, continues to top results on Google for relevant searches.