About a year ago, we reported that an audio-ripping site going by YouTube-mp3.org had pissed off its partial namesake and several major record labels by enabling users to make mp3s from videos. According to the RIAA, YouTube-mp3.org has been responsible for more than 40 percent of all illegal video-to-mp3 ripping. So Universal Music Group, Sony, Warner Bros., Arista Records, and more got together to sue YouTube-mp3.org and its founder Philip Matesanz for copyright infringement. Their 2016 claim listed 304 instances of illegal audio-ripping, for songs like Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” and Missy Elliott’s “Get Ur Freak On,” among others.
We hadn’t heard many updates on the lawsuit, which was originally seeking $115,000 “for every alleged instance of piracy,” since then, but now The Verge reports that it’s been settled in favor of the plaintiffs. The actual settlement amount remains undisclosed and a judge hasn’t signed off on the agreement yet, but Matesanz has already shut the site down.