A well-orchestrated response to illegal music downloads
This final installment in the Click To Pirate series reflects on how the music industry, which was the first cultural sector to be deeply impacted by large-scale piracy, has effectively countered it through paid streaming services—though some users still resist embracing the change. The article opens with the story of David, now 37, who reminisces about illegally downloading music in his youth via platforms like eMule and Kazaa. When, years later, he sought to download a few songs for his young child’s speaker, he found himself forced to relearn how to pirate content—from scratch—demonstrating how the current landscape has moved far beyond its peer-to-peer origins. Notably, the EUIPO estimates that approximately 50% of pirated music in France is acquired by “ripping” from legal platforms—highlighting how piracy has evolved rather than simply disappeared.
These personal anecdotes illustrate a broader shift: piracy today often takes more technical and labor-intensive forms. The rise of convenient, accessible paid streaming platforms has fundamentally altered how people consume music. Yet the persistence of piracy—prevented neither by the industry’s defenses nor by shifting consumer habits—suggests that the battle against illegal downloads is far from over.
