Using PHP to Stream MP3 Files and Prevent Illegal Downloading

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Are you looking for a way to sell your music online without your visitors ripping off your stuff for free? If you use streaming MP3s, that's a very real risk. Keep reading to learn how to sell your work online and prevent illegal downloading of your audible art.

One of the most important promotional methods for a music website is streaming MP3s. A lot of music websites, particularly websites belonging to musicians and artists in the indie musicians industry, have started selling their music online. They do that as an effective marketing/business strategy for reaching their audience as well as serving materials to their fans. They do not believe in “being signed with a major label” anymore; instead, they've evolved their own entrepreneurial savvy so they can handle the selling aspect of the music business.

But indie musicians can run into problems with their sites, namely illegal downloading. Some netizens simply do not respect the music creator's right to protect their investment and sell their downloads. Instead, they find ways to download music illegally, without paying for it. They don't care about copyright -- and whether you're a major musician or just starting out, you need to be on your guard against them.  

Let’s get the facts straight: there is no such thing as a perfect system for preventing the illegal downloading of MP3s. But we can make it harder, harder in such a way that it will push the limits of the online music thieves to try to steal from you.

This article will discuss common pitfalls in building a website that offers downloads such as MP3s, and formulate strategies to prevent illegal downloading issues. 

PHP is the most popular server side scripting on the Internet due to the popularity of Apache/MySQL platforms that depend on PHP to operate. It is free, and a lot of web hosting companies support it for a very affordable price.

We will be using PHP scripts to provide security measures for the streaming MP3 system. They will be illustrated in this article.

Next: How Illegal Downloads Happen >>
 

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Comments On: Using PHP to Stream MP3 Files and Prevent Illegal Downloading

· To copy your mp3 files, bypassing your defense, I would access your site using my...    · Thanks for your code and advice. But I have problem with embeding the result of...    · The 'embed' code for embeding the flashplayer wouldn't work for me on none of IE or...    · A few points: *you're not encrypting the script tag, you're encoding the script...    · Yeah agree, that's my concern before. But will be a bit advanced to do for any...    · Hi, thanks for reading the tutorial. Some host does not allow streaming or some web...    · Thanks for your patience in waiting for my reply. Anyway, can you please enter your...    · There is no sure fire way to protect your MP3s as the author said. Best practice...   >>> Post your comment now!