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Digital
Did LimeWire’s demise result in an instant fall in file-sharing?
By CMU Editorial | Published on Thursday 24 March 2011
According to data from research firm NPD Group, the number of US net users file-sharing fell by 3% in the last quarter of 2010 as LimeWire officially closed down its P2P service.
Although the LimeWire file-sharing software can still be used, and an unofficial new release is circulating online, it is possible the fact the P2P technology is no longer supported, or available from the LimeWire website, has had a tangible impact on the number of overall file-sharers. High profile coverage of LimeWire’s defeat in court may also have had an impact.
That said, according to NPD data the percentage of American web users file-sharing has been declining for three years now, so the 3% drop could, in part, be simply a continuation of that trend.
The overall decline in recent years could be because of the rise in the number of legitimate digital music services, especially on-demand streaming platforms. Or it could be that a rise in the number of overall net users is skewing the percentages. Or it could be that newer kinds of file-sharing are harder for NPD to track. Depends whether the glass is half empty or full I suppose.
Nevertheless, NPD’s Russ Crupnick reckons LimeWire’s demise last year did have an effect. He told reporters: “Limewire was so popular for music file trading, and for so long, that its closure has had a powerful and immediate effect on the number of people downloading music files from peer-to-peer services and curtailed the amount being swapped”.
He added: “In the past we’ve noted that hardcore peer-to-peer users would quickly move to other web sites that offered illegal music file-sharing. It will be interesting to see if services like Frostwire and BitTorrent take up the slack left by LimeWire, or if peer-to-peer music downloaders instead move on to other modes of acquiring or listening to music”.
