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The six biggest UK internet service providers were yesterday told to block access to three websites offering pirated media, but data shows that similar efforts last year had little effect and did not reduce file-sharing.
The ruling at the High Court in London means ISPs such as Sky and BT must block Kickass Torrents, H33T and Fenopy which allow users to obtain music and films without paying the license holders.
But data from global analysts Musicmetric, measuring the consumption of Bit Torrent files, showed there was little impact following a court order banning the Pirate Bay website last April.
The Digital Music Index (DMI), the most comprehensive ever report into digital music, showed file sharing to be increasing globally, driven by Latin America.
The DMI did show that legal services like iTunes and Spotify were reducing piracy in the UK and US.
Musicmetric will be carefully monitoring the latest developments over the coming weeks. Numbers and graphs are below.
Gregory Mead, chief executive of Semetric, owners of Musicmetric said:
“While our data does show a decrease in BitTorrent downloads in the U.S. last year, it also shows that it is increasing significantly in emerging markets such as Brazil and India and is on track to pass the US in the near future.
“Data around the blocking of Pirate Bay in the UK last April showed little negative impact on file sharing, which would have been due to the slew of copy-cat sites set up on proxy servers. Blocking websites isn’t as simple as shutting down a market stall selling copied videos or CDs, and web pirates can be very slippery.
“We will be carefully monitoring this latest event to measure the effect.
“However, the strong wording in yesterday’s judgment could help the entertainment industry take stronger action against copyright theft although what is clear is that making legal services available can really help.
“The key thing is for the industry to find ways of engaging with fans and using data on all online media consumption will enable firms to connect with their fans and drive up revenue as more and more consume music and films digitally.”
The full report can be downloaded from http://cloudcommunicationsnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Musicmetric-Digital-Music-Index-DMI-report-2012.pdf
More at www.musicmetric.com
Piracy across the world