A collection of major record labels that includes Universal, Warner Brothers, Sony, Elektra, and others, is suing the owners of the website YouTube-mp3.org. The site does exactly what it advertises—it rips audio from YouTube streams and allows the user to download the resulting file.
The labels are claiming that the site "provides the site and facilities and means for its users to engage in copyright infringement, while profiting from the infringement." The "profiting" part of that comes from third-party advertisers on the site.
The labels are suing the website's German operator for an unfathomable amount of money. They're demanding $150,000 for "each work infringed," meaning each time a song's copyright is violated. Given that the site has over 60 million users a month according to Gizmodo, we're talking in the trillions per month.
The Chairman and CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America, Cary Sherman, made a statement in support of the suit:
“This site is raking in millions on the backs of artists, songwriters and labels. We are doing our part, but everyone in the music ecosystem who says they believe that artists should be compensated for their work has a role to play. It should not be so easy to engage in this activity in the first place, and no stream ripping site should appear at the top of any search result or app chart.”
As a part of the suit, the plaintiffs included a list of over 300 songs downloaded from the site. Among the tunes are such jams as James Blunt's "You're Beautiful," Darius Rucker's "History in the Making," and basically everything Katy Perry has ever recorded.
