A couple of online pirates behind the illicit music Internet forum Dancing Jesus were arrested. It is believed that their activities could have cost the industry over £240 million. The service allowed its members to post tens of thousands of unauthorized links to music tracks, often before they were even released, thus undermining record labels.
The website operator and administrator Kane Robinson, 26, was jailed for 2 years and 8 months at Newcastle crown court after admitting illegally distributing music earlier in 2014.
Over 22,500 links to 250,000 different songs were posted on the website called Dancing Jesus between 2006 and 2011. The service had over 70 million user visits. According to the estimations of the music industry, if at least 50% of them illegally downloaded a single track, the cost to the industry would be about £35 million, but if 50% of them illegally downloaded a whole album, the cost would be £242 million.
Another individual, Richard Graham, 22, was jailed for 21 months for illegal distribution of about 8,000 tracks, around 2/3 of which were pre-release. He pleaded guilty at another hearing to illegally distributing music tracks. While the judge admitted it would be easy to consider such activities a victimless crime, piracy still reduced the ability of the music industry to promote and fund new musicians.
In the meantime, the BPI claimed it linked with other entities, like the US Department of Homeland Security and City of London Police, in order to investigate Dancing Jesus 4 years ago. As a result, the owner of the website was arrested, and its servers were seized.
The BPI claimed that this sentencing of 2 copyright infringers sends a clear message to the operators and users of illegal music websites that Internet piracy is a criminal activity which won’t be tolerated by law enforcement anywhere in the world. The music industry insists that piracy – especially pre-release – is able to make or break an artist’s career. Besides, it can determine whether a record label can invest in the crucial second or third album of the musician.
The BPI described this case is an excellent example of law enforcement agencies co-operating to fight online piracy, which has a negative impact on record companies and their ability to invest in content creators.
