“The use of stream-ripping platforms in the U.K. increased by 1,390% between 2016 and 2019,” claims HypeBot. Statistics for other forms of piracy are flat or falling, according to a report from UK digital rights group PRS, but the same report indicates that stream-ripping is growing like wildfire.
When a streaming service like YouTube or Spotify sends sound data to a user, they have little control over what is done with that data at the destination. Most people access streaming services through apps that play the music over whatever device they’re using, but there are pieces of software that allow music coming through a streaming service to be recorded and replayed later. Software like this is what makes stream-ripping possible.
According to the PRS report, stream-ripping now accounts for around 98.7% of activity on piracy sites specifically devoted to music, up from 68.2% in a similar report released in 2017. YouTube is the clear platform of choice for stream-ripping; of the top 100 stream-ripping services, 70 download exclusively from YouTube, 4 download only from Spotify, and the rest can copy streams from multiple platforms. SoundCloud emerged as the second most popular platform after YouTube for stream-ripping services that support multiple content sources, with Deezer coming in third.
Some stream-ripping programs can be complicated to use, but others are hosted on websites through which users can grab copyrighted songs with a few clicks of a mouse. One of the most powerful stream-ripping tools is youtube-dl. The program began as a means to download YouTube videos and has since expanded in scope to support saving streams as well as static videos and audio tracks from almost every significant online media portal, including Spotify, SoundCloud, Vimeo and others.
youtube-dl is built to be used through a command-line interface, but graphical front ends have been created for it and many stream-ripping websites use youtube-dl under the hood. Some stream-ripping tools are implemented as plugins for web browsers, and the most popular stream-ripping plugin is YouTube Download Plus per the PRS report.
The most popular stream-ripping web app by far is y2mate.com according to the report, with monthly usage of about 648,184 per Alexa statistics. The next most popular site, mpgun.com, recorded only 19.7% of y2mate’s usage.
Other YouTube download services going by the name y2mate can be found at y2mate.yt and y2mate.ch, among many other addresses. Discretion is advised when visiting these links, as piracy sites may feature spyware and other malicious content. Like most popular piracy “brands,” y2mate has been widely copied with different operators launching similar sites to capitalize on the name’s recognition.
The 2020 PRS report does not include information on the demographics of people using stream-ripping platforms, but the surveys conducted for the 2017 report shed some light on the user base of these tools. 57% of U.K. adults responding to a survey commissioned by PRS in 2016 were reportedly aware of stream-ripping services, with downloader apps showing the highest level of user awareness at 11%.
The study found that 15% of people over 16 in the U.K. have used stream-ripper tools. Users are predominantly young men, with numbers dropping as the age of respondents increased. Interestingly, 31% of survey respondents reported that they downloaded music because they already owned it in other formats. The growth of stream-ripping since 2016 suggests that these numbers are considerably higher today.
It should be noted that simply using a tool like youtube-dl or y2mate is not illegal in many jurisdictions. In the United States, Section 1008 of Chapter 10, Subchapter D of the nation’s copyright law states that recording a broadcast for personal, noncommercial use does not constitute a violation of copyright, the same exception that allows broadcast TV to be recorded via DVR. Many stream-ripped tracks are shared or redistributed afterwards, however, crossing the line into copyright infringement.
A 2019 report from global music industry body IFPI indicated that smartphones accounted for 27% of the time survey respondents spend listening to music – just two percentage points behind radio. For younger survey respondents, smartphones are used to listen to music 44% of the time, and most music heard using smartphones is delivered through streaming platforms.
The collapse of live events and growth of live streams and bedroom DJs during the COVID-19 pandemic has brought online streaming to the forefront of the music experience, and some DJs use stream-ripping to fill out their libraries, adding to the tensions that have grown between performers and rights holders since the novel coronavirus has forced the music scene to mostly stay online.
The growth of streaming suggests it won’t disappear anytime soon and the recent reports suggest that stream-ripping will grow alongside it.
