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Majors sue accused music leaker
By Chris Cooke | Published on Friday 10 April 2015
All three major record companies are suing a Swedish man who faces criminal charges for allegedly hacking the email accounts of music industry executives to access unreleased recordings, which he then sold to DJs and websites who leaked them ahead of official release. Artists whose work the 25 year old man is accused of lifting from record label email systems include Nicki Minaj and Mary J Blige.
According to Torrentfreak, the man is being prosecuted after an FBI investigation into a string of high profile album leaks discovered hacked email accounts were the likely source of the leaked material. Prosecutor Fredrik Ingblad explains: “In the United States an investigation was launched into the stolen songs. The tracks led to Sweden through bank accounts and IP addresses. Therefore, we were contacted”.
The accused, who denies the charges against him, could face fines and up to two years in prison if found guilty of the hacking and leaking allegations. Plus, he also faces civil litigation from Sony, Universal and Warner, who will likely claim that the leaks cost them much more than the $12,000 the accused is thought to have made from selling the unreleased tracks.
Of course, while the music industry at large generally hates all piracy, the illegal distribution of new records pre-release – or even worse unfinished recordings – is the biggest of the bugbears, with labels arguing that it screws with their marketing campaigns as well as resulting in lost sales. Some labels feel the need to rush-release records once they have been leaked, which further messes up all sorts of scheduling done by the label, artist and other business partners in the music industry.
That said, while few actively welcome the leaks, there is a difference of opinion in the music community as to how you should react to them when they happen. And in the next edition of the CMU Trends Report you’ll be able to read how Sufjan Steven’s label chose to embrace the leak of his most recent album. To get the report become a CMU premium subscriber for a mere £5 a month, sign up here.
