The downfall of pirating websites such as Pirate Bay and Kickass Torrents has led many internet users to retort to ripping YouTube streams. Now, a coalition of major record labels has taken Youtube-mp3.org to court in a bid to protect the rights of musicians.
Universal, Warner Brothers Studios, Capitol, and Sony are among the record labels that registered the complaint against the website. According to the plaintiffs, Youtube-mp3.org inadvertently encourages users to commit copyright infringement, and also benefits from it.
UK record label representative Geoff Taylor said that "It's time to stop illegal sites like this building huge fortunes by ripping off artists and labels."
The record labels are now suing Youtube-mp3.org for $150,000 in damages. That is for every single case of alleged piracy the website has undertaken. As evidence for the claim, the court was able to document more than 300 songs downloaded from the website.
President of the Recording Industry Association of America, Cary Sherman, told BBC that the site was illegally raking in millions behind the backs of many artists, songwriter's and labels. Youtube-mp3.org is reported to have about 60 million users per month.
According to a study conducted by the International Federation of Phonographic Industry, about half of the population of people aged between 16 to 24 years old use stream-ripping tools to illegally copy music from YouTube. This finding has alarmed the music industry since stream-ripping is beginning to overtake the number of downloads from pirating websites. It is also becoming an illegal substitute for purchasing authorized subscriptions from streaming service.