Dodgy music downloads: can you go to jail for illegally supplying or downloading music? Piracy laws explained

• Punishments for music piracy can differ depending on whether an individual is downloading or supplying album leaks.
• Since the arrival of streaming services, there have been significant changes in how music piracy is approached.
• We explore the current legislation, as a Reddit user claims they “accidently” leaked a number of major albums in the early 2000s.

Those of us of a certain age will remember when file sharing and MP3 downloading was considered the “Wild West” of the internet - and a danger to our computer system.

Be it the risky use of LimeWire or using Napster before “that” fallout between Sean Parker and Metallica, long before the advent of Spotify, downloading your favourite album was indeed highly dubious - but a practice carried out by many all-consuming music fans.

Many may have downloaded some of the biggest releases from the year 2000, including Shaggy’s “Hot Shot,” Limp Bizkit’s “Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavoured Water” and Madonna’s “Music” long before they appeared on our shelves or our iPods.

But how did such a leak occur? Well, someone has claimed responsibility during a very interesting threat on Reddit’s AMA forum.

The user posted under the thread “I made accidently made the artist "Shaggy" famous by leaking his song "It Wasn't me" back in the 1990s AMA,” went on to regale Reddit users about how the major leak occurred. They claimed that rather than the leak being intentional, it was instead a complete accident.

The poster says: “One Friday I burned several dozen new albums onto my hard disk - one of them being Shaggy's album. I went home for the weekend and saw the news that a bunch of major albums had leaked (Madonna's "Music", album, Shaggy, Nelly, Nelly Furtado, Limp Bizkit and a bunch of others if I remember correctly were among those leaked I don't remember them all) and my colleagues and I joked that someone we knew was getting fired.”

The user then revealed: “When I got to work that Monday I realized I had left my computer on and those albums had been downloaded millions of times. I had accidentally saved the burned albums to my [...] shared folder and I realized I was responsible for the leak. I ended up getting fired shortly after and didn't give it a second thought until I saw a short documentary about that song and how it made him famous.”

Though the validity of the claims are still to be confirmed, it once again shone a light how far we’ve come regarding file sharing and music piracy - but has there been any changes to copyright and piracy laws since the advent of Spotify and other streaming services?

What’s the law around music piracy - and how has it changed?

Punishments for music piracy can differ depending on whether an individual is downloading or supplying album leaks. Generally, downloading copyrighted material without permission is illegal, but it is often seen as a less severe offense compared to supplying or distributing pirated content.

The reason for this difference is that distribution typically involves a wider audience, and can be considered a more serious infringement due to its potential to cause greater harm to the industry.

FACT (The Federation Against Copyright Theft), a leading UK-based organization focused on tackling copyright infringement, treats both downloading and distributing pirated music as illegal activities. However, they emphasise that those who distribute pirated content, such as uploading or sharing it via torrents, or file-sharing services, can face more severe legal consequences, including larger fines or even prison time.

The laws around these activities fall under the Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988 in the UK, which criminalises unauthorised distribution of copyrighted works.

Since the arrival of streaming services, there have been significant changes in how music piracy is approached. In the past, piracy was mainly associated with physical media like CDs and digital downloads, but with the growth of streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, and others, there has been a shift towards combating illegal streaming and unlicensed content on those platforms.

The law has adapted to target illegal streaming, including services offering unauthorised access to copyrighted music.

What are the punishments you could face?

Very severe - those “you wouldn’t download a car” adverts were not joking...

According to Birkett Long Solicitors: “In the UK, illegal downloading can also lead to a criminal conviction if the downloader is caught making copies for the purpose of selling or hiring them to others.

“The penalties for such copyright offences depend on their seriousness, but at the upper end of the scale it can lead to an appearance before a magistrate where the penalty for distributing unauthorised recordings is a fine of up to £5,000 or six months' imprisonment.

“The most serious cases may be sent to the Crown Court, which has the power to impose an unlimited fine and up to 10 years' imprisonment.”

So even after 24 years, the punishments for sharing music, even among friends, it still incredible severe - the Redditor claiming the leaks of course know how fortunate they are to fly under the radar as it could have been much worse.

It’s not just music piracy that you should be wary about in this era of technology - check out our article on the risk of “dodgy” Firesticks for precautions when it comes to television and film piracy in 2024.