by the numbers
1948
Columbia Records releases the first LP.
mid-1960s
1970s
Stereo-8, or 8-track, leads to the rise of magnetic sound recording.
DMCA —- October 1998 The Digital Millennium Copyright Act criminalizes production of technology intended to circumvent copyright and heightens penalties for online copyright infringement.
COICA —- September 2010 The Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeit Act would authorize the attorney general to suspend operation and lock domains of infringing sites. It never received a full Senate vote and was later rewritten as the PROTECT IP Act.
Cassette tapes are developed, leading to the rise of the piracy debate.
1982
1991
CD-ROMs become commercially available, making it even easier to copy music and convert it to digital format.
MP3 is finalized and standardized.
The Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act —— also known as the PROTECT IP Act -- would give the US government and copyright holders tools to curb access to websites with pirated content. The Senate postponed voting on the bill following online protests in January 2012. PIPA’s estimated implementation cost from enactment through 2016 was $47 million.
Napster is created.
2001
2003
BitTorrent is released.
The iTunes store is launched to prevent piracy.
ACTA —- October 2011
PIPA —- May 2011
1999
The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement was signed by eight countries in 2011, including the US, and 23 more in 2012. It establishes international standards for intellectual property rights enforcement.
SOPA —- October 2011 The Stop Online Piracy Act would expand the ability of US law enforcement to combat infringement by blocking advertising business, search engine links and ISP access to infringing websites. The bill was postponed until a wider agreement can be reached.
2008
Spotify is launched.
OPEN —- December 2011 The Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade Act is introduced as an alternative to PIPA and SOPA. OPEN aims to fight online piracy while guarding against censorship of legal content, avoiding cybersecurity risks and not disrupting the underlying architecture of the Internet. The bill has been referred to the Senate Finance and House Judiciary Committees.
75%
70%
of internet users said it is morally wrong to sell downloaded music for a profit
of internet users find nothing wrong with internet piracy
17.5% percent of internet traffic consisting of infringing content in the US
59
number of legal streaming services available in the US —- more than a 50% increase since 2007
51.3%
11%
increase in subscription music revenues in 2013
of Internet users over the age of 13 use peerto-peer networks to dowload music
In all, there are now 28 million paying users of these services -- roughly the population of Texas.
That’s 21 million people -- roughly the population of New York state.
64
89%
percent of teens consume music primarily through
63.7%
of the 10,000 most popular torrents
of Spotify subscribers download illegally less often after joining
91.5%
&
of content on cyberlocker sites
$14.6
total decrease in music sales since Napster was founded in 1999
United States music sales $13.4
in billions USD
$11.8
$12.3 $4.51 $6.3
$4.48 2013
TOPfewer 3 REASONS people are accessing copyrighted material illegally
&
of content on cyberlocker sites
27%
decrease in volume of infringing music content on P2P and cyberlocker sites.
55% pirating users 57% all users
increasing number of ways to legally listen to music
think search engines should prioritize non-infringing links
55% pirating users 55%
think accessing content without permission is unfair to its creators
52% pirating users 55%
think companies shouldn't advertise on pirating websites
all users
$10.4
1999
of the 10,000 most popular torrents
10.1%
is music and music-related content
is nonpornographic, copyright-infringing content
69.5%
2.9%
all users
government crackdown on file-sharing sites
concern about computer viruses and website security
Information for this graphic was gathered from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA.com), The NPD Group (npd.com), the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI.org), Sandvine (sandvine.com) and Envisional (envisional.com).