Of the Top 50 Most-Searched-For Torrents in 2013, Guess How Many Were For Music
Exactly none. Zero. Zip. Zilch.
This isn’t to say that people still aren’t searching for and illegally torrenting music because they are. But the lack of anything music-related in the top 50 most-searched-for torrent items should tell us something: that music piracy is nearly dead.
Sure, labels and artists and publishers will say that piracy is still rampant–and perhaps it is in some quarters. But the fact is that more people would rather purchase music legally than go through all the rigamarole of stealing it. And their numbers are growing every day.
Oh, there will always be pirates and people who would rather steal music than acquire it legally. But with so many legitimate sources for music–i.e. iTunes, Amazon, and all the streaming music services–even old-school pirates realize that it’s hardly worth the trouble anymore. (The movie, TV and software industries are other issues. But that discussion is for another time and place.)
Why bother with the hassle of searching, seeding and tagging when you can get what you want for a fair price with a click or two? Or having access to tens of millions of songs on an all-you-can-eat basis for $10 a month?
Hardcore torrentors will no doubt flame me. “What, are you stupid, man? It’s EASY! You don’t know shit!”
Well, maybe not, but I find it so much more convenient (not to mention moral) to go do things the legal way. If you have time to waste on your torrent hobby, fill yer boots.
Meanwhile, here’s that top 50 list from TorrentFreak. Read their entire explanation analysis here.
1. yify
2. world war z
3. iron man 3
4. breaking bad
5. man of steel
6. 2013
7. game of thrones
8. Star Trek Into Darkness
9. now you see me
10. dexter
11. pacific rim
12. the lord of the rings appendices
13. despicable me 2
14. this is the end
15. french
16. jack reacher
17. the walking dead
18. oblivion
19. a good day to die hard
20. elysium
22. suits
22. fast and furious 6
23. arrow
24. true blood
25. the conjuring
26. after earth
27. White House Down
28. Django Unchained
29. percy jackson sea of monsters
30. 2 guns
31. gangster squad
32. olympus has fallen
33. under the dome
34. jack the giant slayer
35. warm bodies
36. life of pi
37. pain and gain
38. Hansel and Gretel 2013
39. spartacus
40. windows 8
41. grown ups 2
42. 1080p
43. hindi
44. red 2
45. skyfall
46. the hobbit
47. movie 43
48. argo
49. how i met your mother
50. telugu
And what’s the major difference between the way those top 50 torrent content and the way music is legally sold? DRM.
Even if you want to give the people who made the content money (and you should), DRM can make it a pain to enjoy that content. Recent example: I recently bought the Man of Steel DVD, which included a voucher to let me make a legal download of the film to use on my computer and phone, tablet, etc.
Problem: the download is DRMed, and the proprietary player it needs to run does not have a Linux version. My computer runs Linux. So no download — which I’ve already paid for — for me. I could throw it on my phone — and ironically, Android is also Linux, just a version that’s supported — but again, is have to install that bloatware proprietary player. After the Sony rootkit debacle, I have trust issues with such players.
Compare that to modern legal music downloading, where, as you pointed out, there are a number if places to buy and download music from. Hardly any of them use DRM anymore. That means customers don’t have to fight with the content to use it.
The DVD was a good price, so I’ve accepted that I’ll just use the disc. Every time I play it and the “piracy is not a victimless crime” title card comes up, I roll my eyes. DRM isn’t victimless either — customers suffer and get burned every time it’s used.
I’d also suggest that it’s the sign that entertainment continues to lose it’s material value. All of the above titles would most likely be watched and deleted shortly thereafter.
Most people under the age of 30 are unlikely to feel the need to own a collection of any type of music, save for the occasional single or collection of hits of some artist that they used to hear in the home as children.
So why bother to download a pile of songs to your hard drive when you can just listen to them on a digital device that’s never more than a few feet away?
The obvious counter points: 1) The sad fact that very little music gains anywhere close to the same massive mainstream traction as those TV shows and films in the list explains a lot. People torrent but nothing is popular enough to make that list because no one listens to anything they don’t want t anymore. Radio and video aint what it once was.
2) The DVD market has been destroyed far worse than the CD market, where artists still sell respectable quantities of physical product. Meaning people are torrenting film and TV content much more than music.
3) Alan asks “why bother to download a pile of songs to your hard drive when you can just listen to them on a digital device?” Answer is a non brainer – IT SOUNDS BAD. Streaming quality is 192 or worse, thin and brittle. I quickly stream to see if something is worth listening to, then download a higher quality file, or order the vinyl if it is really good. A world where people seriously listen to streaming is like returning to 8 track tape. Brutal sound.
Either because they like to buy rather than steal… Either because people are more interested into movies then music… I’m a little worried about that… I mean… They still download films… so why would they not download music?