News

Site was once biggest U.S.-based locker full of illicit pre-release + popular music

ATLANTA & WASHINGTON – Today the U.S. Department of Justice in the Northern District of Georgia announced that Artur Sargsyan, the operator of a series of infringing websites including Sharebeast, AlbumJams and NewJams which were seized by the FBI in September 2015, has pleaded guilty to felony copyright infringement.

These sites were responsible for the illegal reproduction and distribution of a massive library of popular and pre-release music files.  Sharebeast alone averaged 14-16 million visits per month at its height in 2013. Below is a comment from Brad Buckles, EVP, Anti-Piracy, RIAA.

“Sharebeast and its related sites represented the most popular network of infringing music sites operated out of the United States.   The network was responsible for providing millions of downloads of popular music files including unauthorized pre-release albums and tracks. This illicit activity was a gut-punch to music creators who were paid nothing by the service. We are incredibly grateful for the government’s commitment to protecting the rights of artists and labels. We especially thank the dedicated agents of the FBI who painstakingly unraveled this criminal enterprise, and U.S. Attorney John Horn and his team for their work and diligence in seeing this case to its successful conclusion.”