Fans using file sharing sites to swap parts of the Radiohead ‘pay what you want’ album In Rainbows have been hit with the naughty stick after several recording industry bodies sent the sites – such as Torrentfreak and Isohunt – cease and desist letters.
The missives, sent on behalf of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), were actually to Google over the use of songs on Google hosted blogs. Most of these have now been removed, but Torrent Freak is pointing out that some of the songs which the industry bodies ordered removed were in fact accessible for free from the In Rainbows site.
Ultimately it’s a bit of a dog whistle – it’s unlikely that Radiohead would pursue individual file sharers or sites, and Torrent Freak has drawn attention to this particular example to demonstrate that prosecuting people for file sharing is a very complicated process full of grey areas, and potentially could be embarrassing for bands, as Metallica found out when they pursued Napster.
