TorrentFreak

A new report looking into online music consumption habits shows that since 2009 the number of people who pirate music has dropped by 25 percent in Sweden. The sharp decrease coincides with a massive interest for the music streaming service Spotify. One of the main reasons why people switch to legal services is the wider range of material they can find there.

Apple’s iTunes is being sued by Korvel Sutton, a member of the former rap group Pretty Boy Gangsters. The lawsuit filed at the U.S. District Court in California lists ten compilation albums being sold through iTunes that include copyrighted tracks from Pretty Boy Gangsters. All tracks are being sold without Sutton’s permission and to date he has received no compensation or royalties.

With more than 300,000 tracks and 50,000 albums published since its inception, the music publishing website Jamendo holds one the greatest libraries of free music online. A great success story that is in part powered by BitTorrent. From the start the site embraced P2P downloads to save resources and because artists and fans appreciated it.

For years the music industry has seen P2P technology as the single biggest threat, claiming that file-sharers are responsible for billions of dollars in losses. However, P2P technology is also part of the music industry’s future. One of the major revelations in the music business, the streaming service Spotify, is actually one of the largest file-sharing networks on the Internet.

For years the top record label executives have been claiming that it’s impossible to compete with free, but YouTube is proving them wrong. With billions of views every month the major record labels are making millions by sharing their music for free. For many people YouTube takes away the incentive to ‘pirate,’ but at the same time it may also cannibalise legal music sales.

There’s something odd going on in the music industry. While physical CD sales are decreasing year after year, due to online music piracy, digital sales are booming. Today the BPI reports that since the launch of the first legal store in 2004, UK music fans have spent more than £1 billion on digital music. “British [...]

So, this week saw the VIP premiere of Justin Bieber’s new 3D movie, Never Say Never. Unfortunately the glittering event appears to have been overshadowed by countless teenagers who have the nerve to describe themselves as hardcore fans, but are in fact little more than federal criminals who deserve at least 3 years in jail. I blame the parents, and I’m not the only one.