This Landmark Court Ruling Could Change The Way You Use YouTube Forever
5 September 2017, 10:03
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The internet's biggest YouTube ripping website has agreed to shut down.
Are you one of the half of 16 to 24-year-olds who download songs from one of the many converter websites available online? Well thanks to a first-of-its-kind court ruling, your days of ripping YouTube videos may be numbered.
In September 2016, several major record labels including Sony Music and Capitol Records took YouTube ripping site YouTube-MP3.org to court for copyright infringement. The coalition of labels claimed that the site was "depriving [labels] and their recording artists of the fruits of their labor."
“It’s time to stop illegal sites like [YouTube-MP3] building huge fortunes by ripping off artists and labels. Fans have access now to a fantastic range of legal music streaming services, but they can only exist if we take action to tackle the online black market,” said British Phonography Industry Chief Executive Geoff Taylor.
On Monday 4th September, YouTube-MP3 agreed to shut down their operations
After a year-long court battle, the website agreed to hand over its domain to the Recording Industry Association of America and pay an undisclosed payment to the coalition of record labels. According to Torrent Freak, both YouTube-MP3 and the coalition of record labels asked the court to rule in favour of the labels. The websites owner, Philip Matesanz, has also been banned from “knowingly designing, developing, offering, or operating any technology or service that allows or facilitates the practice commonly known as ‘streamripping’”.
YouTube-MP3 is still online at the time of publishing, but at this point the site's death is inevitable. And with this court case setting a precedent for other stream-ripping services, the entire practice could go extinct very soon.
Also, have you heard? We have a new book!
'Vlogging 101: The Ultimate Guide to Becoming a YouTuber' is available now. So find out more about our guide to becoming a YouTube in the video below.
[Header photo credit: @TheOnlyBethany]
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