The BBC reports that Kane Robinson, 26, of North Shields, was sentenced to 32 months. Richard Graham, a 22-year-old from Leicestershire, was sentenced to 21 months. At previous hearings, both men admitted they were guilty of the charge of illegal distribution of music.
The Dancing Jesus site had links to more than 250,000 music tracks over its lifespan, according to the British Phonographic Society (BPI). In 2010, the group launched an investigation of the men that also involved the City of London police and the UK Intellectual Property Office.
The US Department of Homeland Security even became involved, seizing the site’s Dallas-based servers in 2011.
Robinson was the creator and operator of the site, while Graham was “a major contributor,” according to the Leicester Mercury.
The BPI emphasised that much of the music featured on Dancing Jesus was made available before its official release. “Piracy — particularly pre-release — can make or break an artist’s career and can determine whether a record label is able to invest in that crucial second or third album,” said David Wood, director of BPI’s copyright protection unit, who spoke to the press following the sentencing. “In this day and age, with so many quality digital music services available offering access to millions of tracks through free and premium tiers, there is no good reason to use pirate sites that give nothing back to artists and offer a sub-standard experience for consumers.”
The site’s Twitter feed, inactive since 2009, features the image of a Jesus bobblehead doll and the slogan “because we listen to music before you.”
Piracy sites in the US have led to major civil lawsuits, but criminal copyright charges for distributing music are a rarity, with Kim Dotcom’s Megaupload being a huge exception to that rule. In the UK, however, private copyright investigations can lead to criminal prosecutions and jail time, such as the four-year-sentence for Anton Vickerman, who created the illegal TV-linking site SurfTheChannel.
