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Spotify Piracy

Music festivals cause spike in online music piracy suggests Spotify study

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By Gillian West, Social media manager

July 20, 2013 | 1 min read

Music festivals cause a rise in online music piracy according to research from streaming service Spotify.

Despite festivals such as Glastonbury and T in the Park increasing fans appetite for artists' music, many use unauthorised channels and tormenting sites to access it with those who delay releasing new material more likely to be pirated than those who release their music immediately.

A statement from Spotify explains: "Our analysis uncovered some examples of torrents spiking immediately after festival performances."

The research, which was carried out last year at the Dutch festival Stoppelhaene, showed BitTorrent downloads for artists performing at the event "skyrocketed" after their sets, despite legal sales and Spotify's own streaming counts being largely unaffected.

The report, entitled Adventures in The Netherlands, states: "Explanations for these spikes merits further study, but one intuitive driver is instant gratification."

Spotify adds that this desire for "instant gratification" means that artists should consider releasing material to streaming sites and putting it on sale at the same time to reduce the likelihood of being pirated.

Spotify Piracy

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