Police close down major online pirate site in Australia

April 24, 2003

Federal police in Australia have raided one of the biggest suppliers of infringing music files on the Internet. An Australian-based website, MP3 WMA land, was the hub of a massive exchange of music and other digital files across the world. The site attracted over 7 million visitors, placing it among the top 10% of infringing Internet sites worldwide, and is the largest instance of online music piracy ever detected in Australia.

The raid was a culmination of a 7-month investigation by local and international music industry investigators involving MIPI, the Australian recording industry's anti-piracy unit and IFPI, the organisation representing the international recording industry.

The raids involved the combined resources of the Eastern and Western Regions of the Australian Federal Police and agents from the AFP's High Tech Crime Unit.

Following the execution of search warrants in Perth last month, police yesterday raided four separate suburban houses in Sydney. A number of suspects were detained for questioning, and computers and other records were seized.

The site delivered may thousands of music files including both archive and pre-release material from all the world's best-known artists. Hundreds of complete copies of commercially released albums were available for direct download.

The site also used unauthorised copies of album covers and openly encouraged users to rip files and post them on the web.

Jay Berman, chief executive and chairman of IFPI said: "A massive internet piracy operation has been put out of business, and that is good news for recording artists, songwriters, record labels and everyone working in the music industry. We will continue to do everything we can to halt the spread of authorised music files on the Internet - and protect the work of our labels and their artists."

Michael Speck, General Manager of MIPI said: "IFPI's internet anti-piracy unit worked closely with MIPI in investigating this site and preparing for the police raid. The case underlines the benefits of close international cooperation among the recording industry's anti-piracy investigators."

For further information please contact: Adrian Strain, Fiona Harley,
IFPI Communications tel: +44 (0)20 7878 7900