MUMBAI:British and Dutch police shut down what they say is one the world`s biggest online sources of pirated music and arrested the website`s 24-year-old suspected operator.The invitation-only OiNK website specialised in distributing albums leaked before their official release by record companies, says the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI).
Many among OiNK`s estimated 180,000 members paid “donations” to upload or download albums, often weeks before their release, and within hours albums would be distributed through public forums and blogs across the Internet. Users were invited to the site if they could prove they had music to share. More than 60 major albums were leaked on OiNK so far this year, making it the primary source worldwide for illegal prerelease music.The arrest of a 24-year-old IT worker at a house in Middlesbrough, northeast England, followed a two-year investigation by Dutch and British police and raids co-ordinated by Interpol.The IFPI is spearheading an international fight against all forms of Internet music piracy amid declining sales of physical CDs. Recorded music sales have fallen by more than a third internationally in the last six years, says the organisation.