British and Dutch police today
shut down the world's biggest source of illegal pre-release chart albums and
arrested a 24-year old man in an operation coordinated between Middlesbrough and
Amsterdam. The raids, which were coordinated by Interpol, follow a two-year
investigation by the international and UK music industry bodies IFPI and BPI
into the members-only online pirate pre-release club known as OiNK. OiNK
specialised in distributing albums leaked on to the internet, often weeks ahead
of their official release date. More than 60 major album releases have been
leaked on OiNK so far this year, making it the primary source worldwide for
illegal pre-release music.
The site, with an estimated membership of 180,000, has been used by many
hardcore file-sharers to violate the rights of artists and producers by
obtaining copyrighted recordings and making them available on the internet. It
is alleged that the site was operated by a 24-year-old man in the Middlesbrough
area, who was arrested today. The site's servers, based in Amsterdam, were
seized in a series of raids last week. OiNK's operator allegedly made money by
setting up a donations account on the site facilitated by PayPal.