The Department of Justice has seized Sharebeast.com and its sister site albumjams.com, according to a news release. The Sharebeast sites has been deemed the largest illegal music file-sharing sites in the United States. The domain notice seen below appears on the homepages of the sites within the Sharebeast network.
Sharebeast is said to be responsible for the leaks of thousands of albums before they were released in stores. More than 100,000 infringed songs were reported to be taken down.
RIAA Chairman and CEO Cary Sherman says “this is a huge win for the music community and legitimate music services.”
“Sharebeast operated with flagrant disregard for the rights of artists and labels while undermining the legal marketplace.Millions of users accessed songs from Sharebeast each month without one penny of compensation going to countless artists, songwriters, labels and others who created the music. We are grateful to the FBI and the Department of Justice for its strong stand against Sharebeast and for recognizing that these types of illicit sites wreak major damage on the music community and hinder fans’ legitimate listening options.”