MBW reports that the amount of music downloaded on illegal piracy sites grew by 16.5% in the second half of 2015 compared to the year’s opening six months. That’s according to leading content protection and market analytics company MUSO, which tracked web activity on 576 sites which were ‘wholly dedicated to music piracy or contained significant music content’.
Across these sites, MUSO analysed over 2 billion visitor traffic hits globally. The research, exclusively provided to MBW, comes from MUSO’s ‘2015 Global Music Piracy Insights’ Study. Interestingly, the company found that music was particularly hit hard: the amount of online visitor traffic across piracy-enabling torrent sites covering all media types dropped by 20% throughout the course of 2015.
Russia's Ministry Of Communications is going to start naming and shaming big brands whose ads are appearing on piracy sites in the country. The advertisers provide funding for the sites as well as perceived legitimacy, often leading consumers to conclude that the sites are legitimate. The Ministry is planning to publish a list of over 100 such companies, but has already named car firms Ford, Toyota, Nissan, Mazda and Volvo. Microsoft also makes the list.
All three major record companies are taking action against Swedish man for allegedly hacking the email accounts of music industry executives to access unreleased recordings including those from Nicki Minaj and Mary J Blige, which he then allegedly sold to DJs and websites who leaked them ahead of official releases. According to Torrentfreak, the man is being prosecuted after an FBI investigation and prosecutor Fredrik Ingblad explained: "In the United States an investigation was launched into the stolen songs. The tracks led to Sweden through bank accounts and IP addresses. Therefore, we were contacted". The accused, who denies the charges against him, could face fines and up to two years in prison if found guilty of the hacking and leaking allegations. He also faces civil litigation from Sony, Universal and Warner, who will likely claim that the leaks cost them much more than the $12,000 the accused is thought to have made from selling the unreleased tracks.
