Despite the rise of streaming services, music piracy persists

Eight million American Internet users illegally downloaded music from a peer-to-peer (P2P) site or ‘torrent’ network in 2020. — AFP Relaxnews

Music industry professionals were hoping that streaming would put an end to piracy. But it hasn’t worked out that way. One in five US Internet users still download music files illegally, according to a new report by MusicWatch.

The illegal download and sharing of music files introduced by Napster, Limewire and the like led to a vision of piracy that was so pervasive that it was once thought to be unalterable.