Muso has released its latest piracy statistics for 2018. Its new report found that piracy websites attracted 189 billion visits last year, down from 300 billion visits in 2017. Those totals include illegal access of all forms of entertainment, and music piracy accounted for 15.87% of the visits (or about 30 billion hits) last year. The 2017 total was 73.9 billion music piracy visits.
The report also found that nearly two-thirds (60%) of piracy visits were to unlicensed web-streaming sites. Stream-ripping sites saw a 16% decline in visits last year. This has been an area of concern to the industry for years, appearing in multiple reports during 2018. Also the RIAA is currently engaged in at least one lawsuit against a Russian operator.