- News>
- Internet & Social Media
Lawsuit threats seen curbing online music piracy
Los Angeles, Aug 22: Music piracy over the Web has declined since the record industry started threatening to sue individual users of popular but unauthorized file-sharing networks, several research groups said on Thursday.
Los Angeles, Aug 22: Music piracy over the Web has declined since the record industry started threatening to sue individual users of popular but unauthorized file-sharing networks, several research groups said on Thursday.
According to Port Washington, New York-based NPD Group, the number of households acquiring music files began to fall in May 2003, right after the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) began threatening file-sharers with legal action.
Based on data collected from 40,000 online panelists, NPD projected that music files acquired, including songs swapped illegally, obtained through paid downloading sites or ripped from CDs, dropped to 655 million files in June from a high of 852 million files in April.
NPD said it estimated the number of households acquiring music files reached a high of 14.5 million in April 2003, then fell to 12.7 million in May and to 10.4 million in June.
Internet audience tracker Nielsen NetRatings also said on Thursday the threat of lawsuits has dissuaded people from using file-sharing sites to swap songs.
"Its definitely affecting usage," said Greg Bloom, senior Internet analyst for Nielsen/NetRatings. "People are participating much less in using services like Kazaa, but they haven't ceased using it altogether."
Bloom said about 4.8 million people used Kazaa from home in the week ended Aug 17, down from 6.5 million seven weeks ago.
In late April, the RIAA sent thousands of e-mails warning song-swappers they could face "legal penalties." By late June, it said it would track down the heaviest infringers and sue them for damages of up to $150,000 per copyright violation.
The group, which represents the world's big record labels including AOL Time Warner's Warner Music and Vivendi Universal's Universal Music Group, has to date sent out more than 1,000 subpoenas to ISPs.
The subpoenas have sparked a backlash among privacy rights advocates and users. In the latest twist, lawyers filed a motion on Thursday on behalf of a woman, calling herself "Jane Doe," who is fighting for her anonymity and challenging an RIAA subpoena.
Both Bloom and the RIAA said the real key to success is whether or not Internet users start moving toward any of the several paid legal services sanctioned by the industry.
"We view the ultimate measurement of the success of this multi-pronged effort is not the day-to-day traffic on peer-to-peer sites, but rather the long-term growth and success of the legitimate online music marketplace," an RIAA spokesman said. "That's what this enforcement is all about."
Bloom said the use of underground peer-to-peer services still far surpassed that of any legitimate services, despite the much ballyhooed success of Apple Computer Inc's iTunes service.
"We have yet to see any legitimate service have any traction," Bloom said. "While Apple iTunes has sold a lot of songs, we don't have proof that a million people are buying songs on iTunes," he said.
Bureau Report
According to Port Washington, New York-based NPD Group, the number of households acquiring music files began to fall in May 2003, right after the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) began threatening file-sharers with legal action.
Based on data collected from 40,000 online panelists, NPD projected that music files acquired, including songs swapped illegally, obtained through paid downloading sites or ripped from CDs, dropped to 655 million files in June from a high of 852 million files in April.
NPD said it estimated the number of households acquiring music files reached a high of 14.5 million in April 2003, then fell to 12.7 million in May and to 10.4 million in June.
Internet audience tracker Nielsen NetRatings also said on Thursday the threat of lawsuits has dissuaded people from using file-sharing sites to swap songs.
"Its definitely affecting usage," said Greg Bloom, senior Internet analyst for Nielsen/NetRatings. "People are participating much less in using services like Kazaa, but they haven't ceased using it altogether."
Bloom said about 4.8 million people used Kazaa from home in the week ended Aug 17, down from 6.5 million seven weeks ago.
In late April, the RIAA sent thousands of e-mails warning song-swappers they could face "legal penalties." By late June, it said it would track down the heaviest infringers and sue them for damages of up to $150,000 per copyright violation.
The group, which represents the world's big record labels including AOL Time Warner's Warner Music and Vivendi Universal's Universal Music Group, has to date sent out more than 1,000 subpoenas to ISPs.
The subpoenas have sparked a backlash among privacy rights advocates and users. In the latest twist, lawyers filed a motion on Thursday on behalf of a woman, calling herself "Jane Doe," who is fighting for her anonymity and challenging an RIAA subpoena.
Both Bloom and the RIAA said the real key to success is whether or not Internet users start moving toward any of the several paid legal services sanctioned by the industry.
"We view the ultimate measurement of the success of this multi-pronged effort is not the day-to-day traffic on peer-to-peer sites, but rather the long-term growth and success of the legitimate online music marketplace," an RIAA spokesman said. "That's what this enforcement is all about."
Bloom said the use of underground peer-to-peer services still far surpassed that of any legitimate services, despite the much ballyhooed success of Apple Computer Inc's iTunes service.
"We have yet to see any legitimate service have any traction," Bloom said. "While Apple iTunes has sold a lot of songs, we don't have proof that a million people are buying songs on iTunes," he said.
Bureau Report