The site, OiNK, is accused by record industry body the
International Federation of Phonographic Industries (IFPI) of
making albums available weeks before their official release dates.
The site was said to have 180,000 paying members.
IFPI said that OiNK was the world's major source of pre-release
albums, and that it was responsible for the unauthorised release of
60 albums on to the internet before official release dates.
A 24-year-old man said to be behind the entire operation was
arrested in the Middlesbrough area, from where it is alleged he
controlled the site. Dutch police were also involved in the
operation. They seized servers allegedly belonging to the website
last week.
The IFPI said that it had spent two years investigating
pre-release piracy sites. It said that the practice of sharing
music ahead of release is extremely damaging to the industry, and
that it believed it had identified a major culprit in the
practice.
"OiNK was central to the illegal distribution of pre-release
music online," said Jeremy Banks, Head of the IFPI’s Internet
Anti-Piracy Unit. "This was not a case of friends sharing music for
pleasure. This was a worldwide network that got hold of music they
did not own the rights to and posted it online."
OiNK had a membership system by which only those with music to
share could join, and they had to continue to contribute music to
the system to maintain their membership. Members also paid
donations to the site via credit cards or Paypal.
According to news agency Reuters, the police said that they had
made the arrest on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud and copyright
infringement.
