The artificial intelligence boom promises progress and innovation but, at the same time, it poses a threat to existing industries.
Over the past two years, dozens of lawsuits were filed against technology companies. Most of these amount to copyright infringement complaints, challenging the unauthorized use of protected works as AI training data.
The RIAA and its members are also involved in these legal battles. The music group is a driving force in lawsuits against the AI companies Udio and Suno, for example, and recently backed a lawsuit against the AI startup Anthropic.
With the strong focus on AI recently, it wouldn’t be a surprise if this topic was considered a priority. However, the RIAA’s latest ‘notorious markets’ submission to the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) shows that not to be the case, as it mostly focuses on ‘older’ threats.
RIAA’s 2024 Piracy Threats
The RIAA’s latest submission for the USTR’s notorious markets list starts with stream-rippers. These tools allow people to download music from platforms such as YouTube and, despite their legal use cases, the music group considers stream-rippers a prime copyright infringement tool.
There are dozens of popular stream-rippers including y2mate.com, which reportedly has one of the largest user bases. In the past, Y2mate voluntarily blocked visitors from the US, UK, and elsewhere. However, that’s no longer the case.
“While Y2mate’s traffic has been declining globally due to the many site-blocking orders, the site has still received hundreds of millions of visits in the last 12 months, making it extremely popular globally. Previously, the site had voluntarily limited access from the U.S., UK, Germany, and France, but these restrictions have been lifted,” the submission notes.
The RIAA goes on to list other typical pirate threats, including torrent indexers, direct music download sites, and cyberlockers. Among these, we find familiar names such as The Pirate Bay, 1337x, Newalbumreleases, Dbree, and Rapidgator.
AI Listings Removed
Over the past two years, the music industry group listed several dedicated AI companies among its top threats. For example, in 2022, AI-powered music extractors and mixers were called out, followed by an AI vocal cloning category last year.
In 2024, no specific AI services are mentioned. RIAA does highlight that hosting platforms such as Krakenfiles are abused to store ‘infringing’ AI training data (i.e. pirated music), which remains a key concern.
At the same time, however, the music group also recognizes that AI opens the door to new innovation options, recognizing that the technology can offer new revenue sources.
“[T]he record labels continue to work tirelessly to develop additional innovations and sources of revenue, including use of responsibly trained AI technology to expand artist creativity, reach, and user engagement,” the submission reads.
Intermediaries
In addition to direct threats, RIAA also calls out several intermediaries. For example, hosting companies PRQ, FlokiNET and DDoS-Guard are referenced. These companies are accused of hosting pirate sites and other criminal activity, despite complaints.
PRQ was launched by Pirate Bay founders. While these are no longer involved, as far as we know, RIAA mentions this association in its submission.
“PRQ is a Swedish hosting service headquartered in Stockholm and created by two of the founders of ThePirateBay. It offers offshore hosting options and has consistently hosted criminal content,” RIAA writes.
Last year, RIAA also listed the domain name registration company Njalla, which was started by Pirate Bay founder Peter Sunde. This company is no longer mentioned in RIAA’s latest report, but other domain name companies do get a mention.
RIAA writes that it’s hard to get accurate domain name registration information from companies such as NameCheap and Tucows, as was pointed out in a recent IFPI report. This makes it difficult for rightsholders to identify the operators of pirate sites.
NameCheap and Tucows are American companies, so these are not eligible for a “notorious markets” listing. However, the callout does add pressure, which might be the main reason why they are mentioned.
In conclusion, RIAA’s latest USTR submission doesn’t list many surprises. Many of the targeted sites and services have been called out before. The absence of specific AI threats is most surprising, but with rapidly evolving technology and developing legal jurisprudence, that might just be temporary.
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The RIAA’s full 2024 list of “notorious” sites and services can be found below, and the full report is available here (pdf). The cursive listings are newcomers and those that were removed are crossed out. The RIAA stresses that this list is a non-exhaustive overview.
Stream-Ripping Sites
– ssyoutube.com
– ytmp3.nu
– mp3juices.cc
– y2mate.com (and related site yt1s.com)
– ytmp3.nu
– savefrom.net (and related site savef.net)
– snaptube app and related domains
– tubidy.cool
Music Download Sites
– newalbumreleases.net
– intmusic.net
– waploaded.com
– hiphopkit.com
– ak47full.com
– fakaza.com
– hiphopda.com
– bazenation.com
– itopmusicx.com
BitTorrent Indexing Sites
– thepiratebay.org
– 1337x.to
– torrentgalaxy.to
Cyberlockers
– zippyshare.com
– dbree.org
– rapidgator.net
– turbobit.net
– krakenfiles.com
– ddownload.com
– pillowcase.su
AI Vocal Cloning
– voicify.ai
Additional Issues
– Bulletproof ISPS: PRQ, FlokiNET, Frantech Solutions/BuyVM/PONYNET, DDoS Guard.
– Domain Name Registrars: NameCheap, Tucows?
– Other intermediaries: Njal.la, A-Ads/Equativ, Softonic/Aptoid.
