Music Industry Asks Google Why It Doesn’t Do More To Stop YouTube Stream Ripping

Last week, when an RIAA lawsuit forced YouTube-MP3 offline, we asked why Google has not worked to shut it down sooner. With other stream ripping sites still live, others in the music industry are now asking Google and YouTube the same question.

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Shortly after our op-ed "Why Didn't Google Shut Down YouTube-MP3 Sooner?," the RIAA's EVP Communications and Marketing Jonathan Lamy tweeted:

while we rightly welcome this ????@Hypebot asks good related q: Why Didnt Google/Youtube Shut Down Youtube-MP3 Sooner: https://t.co/NYkfBO7CF7 https://t.co/ogk2kUVdep
— Jonathan Lamy (@LamyJ) September 7, 2017

By many measures, YouTube stream ripping became the #1 source of music piracy, widening the riff between the music industry and the online giant. But the shuttering of #1 ripper YouTube-MP3 came only after legal action from some injured parties – the major record labels.

In the comments section of our piece, former RIAA executive Neil Turkewitz wrote:

"This is something that Google/YouTube should have handled on its own. They were well aware of it, and didn't need RIAA to step up to identify it as problematic. I should add, sadly, that Google is still steering people to stream rippers through auto-complete… Google and many of its allies like to think of it as meaning an absence of rules and lack of responsibility. And while that may result in freedom for wolves, it does little to create conditions for freedom of sheep." (more here)

Now UK music industry trade group BPI is also asking why. Geoff Taylor, BPI’s Chief Executive, tells TorrentFreak:

“BPI and other music industry bodies have been urging YouTube for several years to take effective action to block access to its servers for stream ripping sites, which infringe copyright on a huge scale and also breach YouTube’s terms of service."
“There are more steps YouTube could take to prevent stream ripping but so far the music community has been forced to pursue the stream ripping sites directly”

We've reached out to Google for comment.