‘Streamripping’ site that converted YouTube videos into audio files shuts down amid music industry lawsuits
The most popular “streamripping” site, on which millions of users have converted YouTube videos into audio files, shut down Thursday faced with a legal campaign by the music industry.
YouTube-mp3.org, a site in Germany started in the bedroom of computer science student Philip Matesanz, was inaccessible on Thursday.
The global recorded music industry group IFPI, along with its US and British affiliates, announced that the platform had closed and that a US court has issued an injunction on its activities.
The industry groups, in turn for not taking further legal action, said that YouTube-mp3.org’s operator has agreed not to infringe on copyrights in the future.
Most fans understand that getting music from a genuine site supports the artists they love
YouTube-mp3.org – which music industry representatives said had 60 million visitors a month and accounted for more than 40 per cent of global streamripping – allows users to transform music on YouTube into downloadable files of the sort bought on iTunes.
The music industry said that streamripping had grown by 50 per cent in the US between 2013 and 2015, despite the success in persuading listeners to pay for licensed music through streaming sites such as Spotify.