The major record companies in Canada have secured their first web-blocking court orders in the country, targeting stream-ripping sites Y2Mate, YTMP3 and Savefrom. The Federal Court Of Canada has ordered Canadian internet service providers to block access to the stream-rippers and to publish a notice on those sites’ domains explaining why the services are inaccessible.
Trade body Music Canada, which secured the web-blocks on behalf of the majors, said yesterday that stream-ripping - where users can grab permanent downloads of temporary streams - is “one of the most widespread forms of music piracy today”, cutting artists “out of the royalties they’ve earned” by “siphoning listeners away from legitimate streaming services”.
Not only that, but stream-ripping “threatens the foundation of Canada’s music marketplace, as online streaming now drives more than 75% of recorded music revenue in Canada”.
Stream-ripping has been near the top of the music industry’s piracy gripe list for a long time now, while web-blocking - securing court injunctions ordering ISPs to block access to piracy sites - has been an anti-piracy tactic of choice for record labels and music publishers in many countries.
That said, in Canada this is both the first web-blocking action taken by the major record companies and also the first web-blocking injunction targeting stream-ripping.
Torrentfreak notes that the court order also “targets copycats”, so “similarly branded stream-ripping services” that are set up on similar but separate domains. This is particularly relevant as the main Savefrom site voluntarily blocked users in Canada a few years ago under pressure from copyright owners, but copycats are still available in the country.
Commenting on the web-block action, Music Canada CEO Patrick Rogers says, “Music Canada is committed to taking action against bad actors who deliberately steal from artists and rightsholders. Our goal is to ensure that artists are paid when their music is played. Preventing stream-ripping services from operating is one way in which we can help do that”.