'Stream Ripping' Site Shuts Down After UK, US Record Industries Take Legal Actions

A Germany-based site that offered illegally "stream ripped" music with 60 million monthly global visitors shut down after legal actions by the U.K. and U.S. record industries, said the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry in a Thursday news release. Like similar sites, YouTube-mp3.org extracted audio files typically from music videos and offered them as "free permanent" downloads to users, said IFPI, adding stream ripping is the "most prevalent form of online music copyright infringement." It said the site made hundreds of thousands of dollars in ad revenue per month, but didn't pay anything to music artists and creators. Capitol Records, Sony, Warner Brothers and other companies settled Tuesday with YouTube-mp3 and its operator Philip Matesanz in the District Court for the Central District of California, said an order (in Pacer) agreed to by Judge André Birotte. The industry's complaint (in Pacer) was filed a year ago.