Bruno Mars may not be thrilled with this news but according to Music Metric, Bruno Mars songs are the most illegally downloaded music last 2013.
According to Torrent Freak, Bruno Mars, Rihanna and Daft Punk's songs are the top 3 most download songs on torrents. What is interesting though is that the number of pirated downloads are low or even insignificant compared to legal streams such as YouTube, which generate millions in revenue.
Bruno Mars songs lead the list with more than 5.7 million downloads. Rihanna and Daft Punk come in second and third place, with over 5.4 and 4.2 million downloads respectively.
Despite the legal online offerings, major record labels are still concerned about online piracy. Every day millions of people access music through unauthorized sources, with torrent sites being one of the largest platforms.
In the data provided by Music Metric, Bruno Mars' songs were most downloaded songs/artist in the United States, followed by the United Kingdom, Italy, Brazil and Australia this last 2013.
Music Metric also provided a list of the 20 most played artists on free streaming platforms such as YouTube and Vevo.
According to Torrent Freak, "top record label executives have been claiming that it's impossible to compete with free , but YouTube and others appear to be proving them wrong. Compared to these legal plays, the pirated downloads via BitTorrent are a mere drop in the ocean."
"For example, Bruno Mars was played nearly 2 billion times in 2013, which comes down to 5.5 million views per day, roughly the same as all pirated downloads in the entire year."
It's quite obvious that the music business industry can compete with piracy and even surpass it.
For artists, YouTube and Vevo have become a serious source of income. EMI Music chief financial officer Paul Kahn said that his label gets half a penny for each YouTube play.
Half a penny may not sound much, but with billions of views, they quickly add up. For example, with 2 billion views Bruno Mars would easily take in $10 million.
What do you think? Is piracy still a major concern for the music business or are they exaggerating?
