Bruno Mars: Most Pirated Artist for 2013
Bruno Mars's songs are among the most downloaded songs via illegal sources, making him the most pirated artist for the year 2013.
According to the latest study by Musicmetric, the RnB singer's songs had nearly 5.8 million downloads, followed by fellow RnB artist Rihanna with 5.4 million downloads.
Australian band Daft Punk landed at third place with its songs having 4.2 million downloads, followed by Justin Timberlake and Flo Rida with 3.9 million and 3.5 million downloads respectively.
Rounding up the top ten artists as listed down by Musicmetric are: Kanye West with 3.19 million downloads, Eminem and Jay-Z who both have 3.17 million downloads each, and finally Drake and Pitbull who have 3.13 million downloads each.
Musicmetric's statistics were based on their downloads made via BitTorrent, a protocol for peer-to-peer file sharing that enables the transfer of large files. But while this protocol is mostly used for illegal downloads, Billboard notes that not all downloads via BitTorrent are pirated.
'Some artists, notably Death Grips and Pretty Lights, make their music available for free using BitTorrent,' writes Billboard.
Musicmetric's EVP Daniel Savage says that piracy is on a decline although this year-end list shows that it is still alive and well.
'Previous research that we've done indicates that the increased availability of music via streaming is a contributing factor,' says Savage.
Earlier last week, TorrentFreak lists down the most illegally-downloaded TV series, where Game of Thrones was at the top of the list. The rest of the top pirated TV shows include Breaking Bad, Big Bang Theory, Vikings and The Arrow.
Meanwhile, Bruno Mars wrapped up the year 2013 with a performance at the grand opening of Chelsea Hotel in Las Vegas. He went back to the yesteryears with songs from Elvis Presley ('Jailhouse Rock') and Michael Jackson ('The Way You Make Me Feel'). He is also set to perform at the half-time show of the Super Bowl XLVIII on Feb. 2.
Related Article:
'Game of Thrones' Tops List of 2013's Most Pirated TV Shows