Do you know MUSO? It’s an online anti-piracy system that offers musicians (and filmmakers) to remove illegal copies of their works from the internet. Of course you have to pay for the service but I wonder whether this is a never-ending task as torrent sites reappeared as soon as they are taken down.
MUSO was able to identify the most pirated bands, and oh surprise, the Beatles are at the top of the list, based on the number of illegally uploaded files found on websites, which is exactly 186,876 files for the Fab Fours. The second place surprised me, Fleetwood Mac, really? I knew they were big but that big? Then comes Bob Marley, Led Zeppelin, Cliff Richard (amazing, who would have thought?), Stevie Wonder, Jimi Hendrix, Elvis Presley, The Rolling Stones,… well do you see a pattern? These are all old acts, as I doubt 14-year old kids are listening to Elvis or even Fleetwood Mac, right? Meaning that old people are doing it! See, there is no Kanye West, no Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus, Beyonce, there’s not even a rapper or an EDM act on this list!
But I have another problem with this, if a 50 something guy downloads illegally the Beatles, Led Zeppelin or Stevie Wonder, don’t you think he has already bought the vinyl/tapes/CDs of these artists in the pre-internet past? I would be very surprised if it wasn’t the case, so can we still talk about piracy? Plus NME is saying that sites such as The Pirate Bay are not included in sites monitored by MUSO, so what’s the point really?
The top 10 of the most pirated music acts according to MUSO:
1. The Beatles (187,687 uploaded files)
2. Fleetwood Mac (72,984 uploaded files)
3. Bob Marley (60,024 uploaded files)
4. Led Zeppelin (59,011 uploaded files)
5. Cliff Richard (56,576 uploaded files)
6. Stevie Wonder (45,496 uploaded files)
7. Jimi Hendrix (44,093 uploaded files)
8. Elvis Presley (40,794 uploaded files)
9. ABBA (35,193 uploaded files)
10. The Rolling Stones (34,444 uploaded files)