Steam-ripping: the most aggressive form of music piracy, says PRS study

A study conducted in the UK has found that stream-ripping is the most common and fastest-growing form of music piracy in that country.

Use of stream-ripping websites which allow users to create permanent copies of streams accounted for just under 70 per cent of online music copyright infringement.

Music Week reports that "Dennis Collopy, academic and music industry expert, commented that the surveys findings are cause for "great concern", and that the report "suggests there are problems convincing not just the post-Napster but also the post-YouTube generation of the value of music.""

The Irish Recorded Music Association states that in Ireland, "with music industry losses running to €3.8 million annually, this figure increases to €63.5 million when pirated software and videos are included."

A report produced by Ignite Research in 2014 suggested that 36,806 Irish adults illegally download media content every day, though it did not distinguish between music and other media forms.