Two stories on anti-piracy enforcement came through today illustrating a successful strategy and one that was less so. Illegal music downloads declined last year, according to an NPD study reported by Home Media Magazine, from 16% of consumers in Q4 2007 down to just 9% of consumers in Q4 2010.  The number of tracks per downloader also declined, down from 35 tracks per person to 18.

 

A major reason for the decline was the shutdown of peer-to-peer filesharing service Limewire last fall, according to the report. Limewire was used by 56% of downloaders prior to the shutdown.

 

So maybe taking down big filesharing sites helps reduce piracy, but on the other end of the spectrum, suing fans that are downloaders doesn’t seem to be working so well. FUNimation has dropped its lawsuit against downloaders of One Piece (see “FUNimation Sues 1,337 Downloaders”), according to Anime News Network. The court had already removed almost all of the John Doe defendents, indicating that each defendant would have to be sued separately.