(Hypebot) – In recent months, YouTube has been under fire from the music industry, with mp3 track ripping from videos a major cause of friction. Now the major labels have taken aggressive legal action.
All three major labels and several of their subsidiaries have filed suit against , a website that enables the ripping of audio from YouTube videos into downloadable mp3's.
"Stream ripping has become a major threat to the music industry," states the filing, "functioning as an unlawful substitute for the purchase of recorded music and the purchase of subscriptions to authorized streaming services."
40% Of All Stream Ripping Globally
According to court documents, YouTube-mp3.org accounts for a much as 40% of music stream ripping globally. Allegedly, "tens, or even hundreds, of millions of tracks are illegally copied and distributed by stream ripping services each month."
50% of people 16-21 admitted to having stream ripped in a recent survey.
"This is a coordinated action to protect the rights of artists and labels from the blatant infringements of YouTube-mp3, the world’s single-largest 'stream ripping' site," said Frances Moore, CEO of the International Federation of The Phonographic Industry (IFPI) in a statement.
