Every year, the US Trade Representative (USTR) issues an updated review of “Notorious Markets” that facilitate copyright infringement.
This overview is put together with help from copyright holders and aims to motivate the targets, foreign authorities, and other stakeholders to take action.
The RIAA typically represents the interests of the music industry, and that’s no different this year. Last week, the group sent its latest submission to the U.S. government, highlighting a wide variety of problematic sites and services.
Telegram and Discord
A notable change in this year’s overview is that Telegram and Discord are specifically mentioned as problematic distribution channels. According to the RIAA, these platforms play a major role in pre-release music piracy.
“Messaging platforms Telegram and Discord have become the primary mechanisms through which pre-release music is distributed without authorization,” the RIAA writes.
“Through private and semiprivate communities, organized, global groups engage in hacking, social engineering, and other methods to obtain pre-release music and, in many cases, sell this illegally obtained material for thousands of dollars.”
Telegram was mentioned in an RIAA notorious markets report a few years ago, and the new listing suggests that issues remain. Discord, on the other hand, was not previously listed. The Notorious Markets report typically focuses on foreign threats, but the RIAA reported the American company as a problem nonetheless.
These messaging services are not on the same level as classic pirate sites. The RIAA recognizes this in its submission, acknowledging that both services respond to takedown notices while also indicating that both should do more.
“[I]t is unclear what steps, if any, they take to limit or prevent the ongoing abuse of the platforms for illegal pre-release distribution,” RIAA notes.
Stream-rippers, torrent sites, and cyberlockers
The RIAA’s latest submission also lists the usual suspects, including the stream-rippers Y2mate, Savefrom, Snaptube, Ssyoutube, Tubidy, and Notube. These allow people to download music from platforms such as YouTube and are seen as a prime copyright infringement tool by the music group.
Torrent sites and download/streaming portals also remain a problem. The RIAA mentions various targets, including Newalbumreleases, Scnlog, 1337x, Rutracker, and The Pirate Bay. The latter has been around for more than two decades, taunting rightsholders globally.
“Vast catalogues of music and the world’s most popular and newly released films can be downloaded via [The Pirate Bay]. The site makes no pretense of legitimacy, fails to respond to any takedown notices, and has previously ridiculed those who have sent them such notices,” the RIAA writes.
In the cyberlocker category, Krakenfiles stands out as a major source of pre-release piracy, the RIAA says, while also serving as a source for third-party AI voice cloning tools.
Intermediaries
In addition to direct threats and messaging apps, the RIAA also calls out several intermediaries. For example, hosting companies PRQ, Frantech Solutions, and DDoS-Guard are referenced. These companies are accused of hosting pirate sites and other criminal activity, despite complaints.
PRQ was launched by Pirate Bay founders Gottfrid Svartholm and Fredrik Neij. As far as we know they’re no longer involved, but the RIAA mentions this association in its submission.
“PRQ is a Swedish hosting service headquartered in Stockholm and created by two of the founders of ThePirateBay. It offers offshore hosting options and has consistently hosted criminal content,” the submission adds.
Finally, the RIAA mentions American domain name registrars NameCheap and Tucows as ‘issues’ for shielding customer WHOIS registration data to comply with EU privacy regulation.
Overall, the RIAA’s latest submission builds on previous years with many of the same targets. The inclusion of Telegram and Discord stands out most. Whether the U.S. Government will list these companies in its forthcoming notorious markets review has yet to be seen.
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The RIAA’s full 2025 list of “notorious” sites and services can be found below, and the full report is available here (pdf). The cursive listings are newcomers and those that were removed are crossed out. The RIAA stresses that this list is a non-exhaustive overview.
Stream-Ripping Sites
– y2mate.nu
– ytmp3.nu
– savefrom.net
– snaptube app and related domains
– Ssyoutube.com
– tubidy.cool
-Notube.net
Music Download/Streaming Sites
– newalbumreleases.net
– Scnlog.me
– intmusic.net
– waploaded.com
– hiphopkit.com
– hiphopda.com
– itopmusicx.com
BitTorrent Indexing Sites
– thepiratebay.org
– 1337x.to
– torrentgalaxy.to
– Rutracker.org
Cyberlockers
– dbree.org
– rapidgator.net
– turbobit.net
– krakenfiles.com
– ddownload.com
– pillows.su
– Chomikuj.pl
– Pixeldrain.com
Additional Issues
Bulletproof ISPS: PRQ, FlokiNET, Frantech Solutions/BuyVM, DDoS Guard.
Domain Name Registrars: NameCheap, Tucows and others.
Other Intermediaries: Telegram and Discord
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