After five years, banned music downloading site – Songs.pk has made a comeback in India. The music downloading service was banned in India following a ruling by the Kolkata High Court.
The court had passed an injunction order, asking all ISPs to block access to the website through various methods in 2012.
Entrackr has tried accessing Songs.pk but failed to do so by feeding the web address directly. However, a Google search takes us to songs.pk, and we successfully downloaded a song.
Importantly, the website displays the last update on December 15. The reappearance of Songs.pk has surprised the Indian music industry.
The petition against Songs.pk and other piracy-driven websites was filed by Indian music industry bodies Phonographic Performance Ltd (PPL), Indian Music Industry (IMI), and music label Sagarika Music Pvt Ltd. in the Calcutta High Court.
According to an ET report, the industry body comprises of recording companies, and International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) have persuaded the government to ban Songs.pk.
The return of the pirated site rings an alarm to the Indian Music Industry which has recorded revenue growth by whopping 26 per cent in 2016.
The ET report mentions further that Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) is engaging with search engines and internet service providers to ban access to Songs.pk and other illegal websites.
The government body is reportedly holding discussions with the industry to identify such websites.
Piracy is a big concern for India’s media and entertainment industry, causing losses of about $4 billion every year owing to copyright infringement. This definitely is bad news for the music industry and for the whole ‘anti-piracy’ drive. What we do have to wait and see that how the government is going to respond to the request of IMI.
