A recent Digital Music Index (DMI) report, set to be released shortly, has shown that those unwilling to pay for music might have a conscience after all. The stats have come in and they are reflecting that in countries with access to Spotify, torrent services are losing their share of the market.
According to Musicmetric – a London company that tracks online activity – the presence of a legitimately legal music streaming service has begun to trump the piracy epidemic. After they comprised a list of the top 10 torrent-offending countries, only 1 country, France, had access to Spotify, whereas of the top 10 countries using less torrent clients, half have access to the streaming service.
The report stated that “this implies (although does not prove causation) that the proliferation of free access or low-cost streaming services is making a dent in piracy rates in those countries where those services are available.”
As it turns out, Spotify top dogs have been barking up this tree for years. Where labels and bands feared that free streaming would destroy their bottom line, Spotify has always maintained that it would, in fact, destroy piracy.
There is another side of this coin, however, as Billy Pigeon – a digital media analyst with M2Research in New York – suggested: “there’s been an overall decline in torrent activity in recent months.” Pidgeon also said, “When you look more closely at the reasons, there is usually more than one factor involved. Some of it has to do with the availability of legitimate streaming options. But there are many other factors in play.”
Other factors include the recent crackdown on illegal torrent sites, which has resulted in many being totally shut down, ergo making it more difficult for some to find the files they are after.
Here’s the list of the top 10 torrent offenders and top 10 torrent rejecters below, thanks to Billboard.
Top 10 Fastest Growing BitTorrent Market Share
Brazil
Estonia
Russia
Argentina
France*
Chile
Mexico
Ukraine
Pakistan
Columbia
*Indicates countries in which Spotify is available.
Top 10 Fastest Shrinking BitTorrent Market Share
United Kingdom
United States
Canada
Italy
Greece
Hungary
Indonesia
Sweden
Netherlands
Norway
