Major Labels Claim A “Piracy D-Day” Would Increase Records Sales 17 Fold

Streaming sites like Spotify and others always act under the statement that they are saving tyne industry from piracy. Paying out royalties for streams, albeit pennies on the dollar, is still better than getting no royalties for pirated music right? Well Universal Music Group, one of the largest music label conglomerates in the world, has been getting hit hard in the modern era of pirating which is why they teamed up with global consulting firm Bain & Company to conduct a study on the music climate if piracy was eradicated by what the study refers to as, ‘Piracy D-Day’.

The motion would start with piracy getting some serious crackdowns and removals of domain names similar to Grooveshark (R.I.P), as well as deep-packet inspections and content blocks on sites and individuals who play host to such services. Sources close to this study go on to say that, “Politicians, just like the artists, have always been scared to speak against piracy because they feared the backlash,”. This would be followed by decreases in freemium services from streaming sites that it would funnel people back into a few avenues to pay for such services.

They admit that the initial year after such eradications take place would be rough, since the market is so used to things being free that they would be highly resistant to paying for things. But after the dust would settle, resistants would gradually decline as people moved back into paid premium services, online purchases, and do I dare suggest CD sales out of pure necessity.

While this may seem like a far-off and impossible possibility, remember that similar crackdowns have been effective in different industries. Sources close to the study went on to compare similar crackdown models to the Kim Dotcom raids in past years saying: “The music industry is nothing in size, they have no power in Washington, they’re not as smart and just care about their salaries. But Hollywood is different: they have Obama coming to visit, and you wouldn’t see things like Kim Dotcom getting raided without them.”

Via Digital Music News