Seventeen million people illegally downloaded music licensed for streaming in the U.S. in 2018, according to the market research firm.
Seventeen million people illegally downloaded music licensed for streaming in the U.S. in 2018, according to the MusicWatch Annual Music Study published Thursday (May 30). That’s up from 15 million in 2017, an increase of 13%.
“Streaming, and easy, efficient access to music was supposed to have solved many of the issues around unsanctioned sharing and piracy,” MusicWatch, a marketing research and analysis service for the music and entertainment industry, wrote in a blog post announcing the study. “Unfortunately a segment of music fans continue to acquire music in unsanctioned forms. Legacy forms of piracy through P2P file sharing applications has faded, but the use of websites and apps that facilitate the downloading of music licensed only for streaming is thriving.”