Rightscorp, an anti-piracy monitoring firm acting on behalf of digital media copyright owners, has just published their 2013 financial report. They show a 236% increase in revenues of $324,016 for the full year ended December 31, 2013, as compared to 2012, in which their annual revenue was $96,565. The fourth quarter alone in 2013 made up $155,381 of the full year’s revenue. The large increase in revenue is due to the fact that they now represent more than 1,000,000 copyrights and have partnered with major motion picture studios, numerous Platinum recording artists, Academy Award-winning films, top TV shows and many others.

We previously reported that Rightscorp was also now monitoring the Billboard Hot 100 Songs. That news, compiled with their description of the fact that their “revenue growth was driven by an increase in copyright representation and improvements in the Company's proprietary copyright monetization system”, tends to explain the dramatic increase in their revenue for 2013.

Their business tactics have remained unchanged in the manner in which they seek their revenue. They basically get notice from a rightsholder of an alleged infringement and then inform any one of many ISPs in the United States whose service the alleged infringement occurred on. Then the ISP notifies the alleged infringer who is asked to pay a sum of $20 (some fees vary) to Rightscorp. It’s a pretty basic and simple procedure, one that seems to be working very much in Rightscorp’s favor as well as the rightsholders.

Their press release details that their operating expenses for 2013 totaled $2,134,843, which was an increase of $963,121 as compared to a total of $1,171,722 for 2012. They attribute that to paying increased fees to the copyright holders.

Rightscorp CEO Christopher Sabec commented, "We are pleased to report that Rightscorp ended 2013 with a very strong quarter. We attributed our year-over-year growth to our ability to successfully represent copyrights against online piracy. Our mission is to preserve the integrity of copyrighted intellectual property and help content owners monetize their assets. In a short period of time, we have been recognized by leading media partners as a turnkey solution to the problem of online copyright infringement."

Mr. Sabec continued, "We are pleased that our business model maintains strong sequential quarterly growth. We expect to maintain this trend as we continue to increase the number of copyrights that we represent. Rightscorp's patent pending technology and proprietary copyright monetization system identifies repeat infringers and collects payment better than any other solution on the market. Our success is evidenced by the fact that we have successfully closed over 60,000 cases of online copyright infringement to date."

And Mr. Sabec closed with, "We are currently in talks with the owners of millions of additional copyrights spanning various industries such as film, music, books, games, and software and anticipate these to be foundational catalysts that will aggressively drive our initiatives for long-term growth. Rightscorp delivers results, a fact that is being recognized by more and more industry leaders and media publications."

Yes, it’s another “pay up” scheme, one that is proving to be very lucrative. And as a reminder, downloaders of the Billboard Hot 100 should take notice and beware of those “hot” songs that are being monitored. Rightscorp is representing more copyrights now than ever before, and that total is increasing almost daily.