The RIAA has released a list of the world's most active music piracy sites and you may be surprised by what site took the top spot (we were). Although The Pirate Bay, probably the most popular torrenting site in the United States came in at no. 3, according to Digital Music News, the busiest place for pirates was vKontakte, a social media site often referred to as "the Russian Facebook."
Although the RIAA didn't release the actual data, it's not tough to believe that a Russian social media hub would serve as a huge source of illegal downloads. China and Russia, two of the BRIC countries that may serve as the last hope for increasing music sales in the future, are alas also among the most pirate-happy nations in the world A report from the Federal Trade Commission estimated that Chinese citizens pirated 99 percent of the media they consume).
VKontakte users can upload music and other media to a huge digital media database that the rest of the site's users can access. Essentially, it operates as a cloud for pirates. In terms of music, it's much like Spotify—except that musicians get royalties, however small, from every stream. The good news is that Russian internet group Mail.Ru is negotiating with major Western labels in an attempt to encourage its users to access music legally, according to Russia Beyond The Headlines.
Of course the problem remains convincing ownership of sites such as vKontakte that it's legally required to crack down on illegal sharing, and Russian law enforcement needs to show concern as well.
According to RBTH, Dmitry Sergeyev—the director of vKontakte's parent company—says that the company wants to reach a deal where those who own the music would get paid without harming the site's offering of "free basic services."
Good luck with that.
