What Exactly Is Stream-Ripping, The New Way People Are Stealing Music

[grimm]

The music industry experienced one of the rockiest transitions into the digital age of almost any business over 15 years ago, as it didn’t lead the charge. The biggest companies working in music were more than happy to continue to allow people to purchase albums and CD singles, overlooking the potential that the internet could have offered for the field. The business only truly got its act together (at least somewhat) when the public latched onto piracy websites like Limewire and Napster and began downloading anything and everything they could want for free. That kicked off a decade-plus-long slump in the industry that has only just recently been reversed thanks to streaming platforms taking over the world.

Now, just as things seemed like they were on the up-and-up, piracy is back in a major way, and the industry is yet again finding it difficult to battle the millions of people around the world who want access to the music they love on their terms.

The latest trend in music piracy is called stream-ripping, and it’s exactly what it sounds like. There are dozens of websites and programs that anybody can find with just a quick Google search that allow any user to turn a file being played on almost any streaming platform, such as Spotify or even YouTube, into one that can be downloaded and kept permanently. Essentially, it rips the stream right off the website of the thief’s choice.

I won’t list any of the services that assist people in stealing music—I am not trying to promote them and help them make more money, after all—but there are a handful of options that seem to dominate the landscape, and those few services seem to be responsible for a disproportionately high percentage of stream ripping. It’s difficult to fight these companies because they aren’t trafficking in illegal files that can be tagged and identified, which was the case when the digital troubles began for labels and artists of all sizes, but rather ones that have been copied directly from the source.

Last year, the three major record labels—Sony, Warner Brothers and Universal—banded together to file a lawsuit against one of the largest stream-ripping perpetrators in the world, and in their lawsuit, the trio of giants alleged that "tens, or even hundreds, of millions of tracks are illegally copied and distributed by stream ripping services each month," and with streaming becoming more and more popular all the time and this issue still unresolved, it's entirely possible that hundreds of millions, or even billions, of tracks have been illegally downloaded using this method.

Now, those tens or hundreds of millions of songs likely wouldn't have been purchased by fans around the world, but the fact that someone can unlawfully download a track they like instead of streaming it on a proper platform robs the artist, songwriters, producers and the many companies and employees behind every successful single or album of royalties they deserve, which can sometimes end up being greater than if the song had simply been sold on iTunes or Amazon. Individual streams aren't worth very much, but it's when someone listens over and over that all those fractions of cents can add up, and stream-ripping means nobody needs to hit replay on a certified, lawful service.

Lawsuits may have just started to roll out in a major way against stream-rippers in the past year or so, but this issue won’t go away by shutting down a few websites or shouting about it. Instead, it will require a massive education effort and a shift in the music industry. What helped stall the increasing number of illegal downloads from platforms like Limewire was a mix of legal action and the introduction of legitimate streaming sites, which provided enough freedom to satiate most music lovers. It is currently difficult to imagine what will come after streaming, or what the biggest players in that vertical can do to stop the rampant piracy that only seems to be growing.