Youtube MP3 sites known for stream ripping, YTMP3 and MP3juices, block UK IP addresses

Websites and extensions that facilitate Youtube MP3 conversions are disappearing in the United Kingdom (UK). Two large stream ripping sites, MP3juices and YTMP3 are now blocking UK IP addresses from accessing their site. In 2016, the old guard of the music copyright industry – the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), and the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) – filed suit against YouTube-MP3.com, one of the largest stream ripping site at the time. In 2017, the site voluntary shut itself down. After their success, the RIAA publicly proclaimed to the government in a letter that they would next target several other Youtube MP3 converting sites: Convert2mp3.net, Savefrom.net, MP3juices.cc, and YtMp3.cc.

Two Youtube MP3 convertors leave UK

Experts note that such sites are not illegal by default, and do have non copyright infringing uses. Copyright on the internet is and should be different. Some sites intentionally prevent you from stream ripping copyrighted videos. BPI Chief Executive Geoff Taylor welcomed the self censorship development, telling TorrentFreak:

“We are seeing that the closure of the largest stream ripping site, YouTube-mp3, following coordinated global legal action from record companies, is having an impact on the operations of other ripping sites.  However, stream ripping remains a major issue for the industry. These sites are making large sums of money from music without paying a penny to those that invest in and create it. We will continue to take legal action against other illegal ripping sites where necessary.”

For UK internet users, the well of readily available Youtube MP3 stream ripping sites is fast running dry. In fact, some think that the stream ripping sites themselves may have reached an agreement with organizations such as the BPI – which there was no comment on. As Tom Pritchard from Gizmodo UK wrote:

I decided to give this a check to be sure, and without activating any sort of VPN or proxy I was served up a message saying “This service is no longer available Thanks for being part of us. Goodbye!”.

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