Music Pirates Refuse to Give Up

The IFPI shut down OiNK, the world’s largest source of pirated pre-released music, on October 23. The site was notorious for leaking albums days, even weeks and months, ahead of scheduled release dates by using a file sharing program known as BitTorrent. According to officials, the site served approximately 180,000 members and required their users to continuously post music in order to maintain their membership.

The IFPI shut down OiNK, the world’s largest source of pirated pre-released music, on October 23. The site was notorious for leaking albums days, even weeks and months, ahead of scheduled release dates by using a file sharing program known as BitTorrent. According to officials, the site served approximately 180,000 members and required their users to continuously post music in order to maintain their membership.

The digital black market didn’t miss a beat from the shutdown of OiNK and using BitTorrent. A new replacement, known as “waffles.fm,” is already being developed.

It is believed that the new site is credited to the Pirate Bay.org, although no claim by the Bay has been made. However, in a statement last week, members of the Bay stated a plan to restore OiNK to a different location by the name of boink.cd

OiNK’s alleged creator and administrator, a 24-year-old man from Northeast England, was arrested outside of Middlesbrough. Over the prior week, Interpol in Amsterdam carried out raids in order to acquire the site’s servers. The two-year investigation was headed by the British Phonographic industry in addition to the IFPI.

Last year, OiNK leaked over 50 albums on the web illegally prior to their official date of release. BPI’s Chief Executive, Geoff Taylor said of the weeks recent events “The government is now well aware of the scale of damage this theft causes to music — copyright theft starves the creative industries of income, which both threatens future investment in artists and vandalizes our culture.”