The music industry is facing a piracy threat that enables internet users to copy digital music illegally, potentially undermining the gains artists and record labels have made with the growth of subscription streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music. Almost half of 16 to 24-year-olds now use so-called "stream ripping" software to copy streamed music illegally, according to the IFPI, which represents the global recording industry. Stream ripping has surpassed illegal downloading from file-sharing sites as the most popular form of music piracy, the organization said. The high rate of stream ripping was one of the findings from research by Ipsos, the market research group, commissioned by the IFPI as part of a study of 13 of the world's top music markets. The study found that YouTube has become the world's biggest music platform, with 82 per cent of the site's 1.3bn users using it to listen to music, and because of its size it is potentially exposed to stream ripping. YouTube has had an uneasy relationship with the music industry recently, with artists and labels criticizing the Google-owned video service for not catching enough unauthorized music uploads. The IFPI study found that 81 per cent of music listeners on YouTube used the site as an "on-demand" service to listen to music that they already know. "YouTube consistently plays down its significance as a music service, arguing among other things that the service is primarily promotional," wrote David Price, director of insight and analysis at the IFPI, in a blog post. "The Ipsos research shows this is not true . . . the data from the survey demonstrates clearly that YouTube is a major destination for on-demand music and makes it difficult to accept any argument that the site should operate outside the normal music licensing environment." But YouTube disputed this finding. "The average YouTube user spends an average of an hour a month consuming music, far less than music-only platforms," said a spokeswoman. "Less than 20 per cent of all music views on YouTube happen through the user searching for a specific artist or song. In fact, the vast majority of music discovery and consumption is through songs recommended through YouTube's algorithm." The IFPI has also pointed to the "value gap" between YouTube and subscription services such as Spotify and Apple Music, which paid about $2bn to record labels in 2015 from 68m paying users. This compares with the $634m the industry received from "user upload services" — of which YouTube is by far the largest. "YouTube can get away without remunerating fairly artists and producers by hiding behind "safe harbour" laws that were never designed for services that actively engage with and make available music enjoyed by the vast majority of its users," said Frances Moore, the IFPI's chief executive. Tensions between the music industry and YouTube are running high because the three largest recording labels — Universal Music Group, Sony Music and Warner Music — are negotiating new licensing deals with the video platform. The EU is this week expected to release proposals aimed at helping rights holders secure a better deal from YouTube. Under the draft proposals, YouTube and other video-sharing websites will have to reach licensing deals with rights holders if they play an active role by "optimising the presentation" of the content, with lists of recommendations. This would strengthen the negotiating position of the music labels. Currently, they are faced with a take-it-or-leave-it offer from the video site.
