YouTube is easily a top destination for music consumption, and not just in the viewing of music videos, but for general streaming of music as well. Recognizing this, several websites have been created and utilized by large numbers of people that allow for the conversion of audio from YouTube videos into downloadable mp3s, making it easy for people to “own” the tracks they’ve streamed – and Google, owner of YouTube, is not happy about this.
According to a
report over at TorrentFreak, sites like YouTube-Mp3.org and Music-clips.net have been receiving letters indicating that their services allow users to download material from YouTube,
which directly violates the company's terms of service. The sites even allow users to input the YouTube link directly and receive a download with the video's audio. While YouTube-Mp3.org does not use YouTube's API, they remain in Google’s crosshairs, having been sent a letter on June 8 threatening to be sued if they did not shut down in seven days (Google’s own DoubleClick service reports that the site receives 1.3 million hits per day).
YouTube-MP3’s owner, named only as “Philip”, is contesting the action and sent a long response to Associate Product Counsel at YouTube, Harris Cohen, looking to negotiate. YouTube and Google, however, do not seem to be interested. In fact, Google has blocked all of YouTube-MP3′s servers from accessing YouTube, essentially stripping the site of its primary service.
While there are certainly several other sites that provide a suitable alternative to YouTube-Mp3.org or Music-clips.net, Google looks to be eliminating the issue by starting out with the biggest ones first, saying they have a mandate from their users to protect how the content they upload to YouTube is shared and disseminated.
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Hisham Dahud is a Senior Analyst for Hypebot.com. Additionally, he is the head of Business Development for Fame House, LLC and an independent musician. Follow him on Twitter: @HishamDahud
