October 17, 2016

A Liverpool man has pleaded guilty to illegally distributing chart hits online, potentially costing the music industry millions of pounds and depriving the creators of the content fair remuneration for use of their work.

Wayne Evans was arrested at his home in Everton last year, following a joint investigation between PRS for Music and the City of London’s Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU).

Evans pleaded guilty on 7 October at Liverpool Crown Court to illegally uploading the UK’s Top 40 singles to various torrent sites as they were announced each week by the Official Charts Company.  The 39-year-old was also distributing tracks through his own website, including “a cappella” music to be used for DJ-ing and remixing.

Friday’s conviction results from a case that began with a joint investigation between PRS for Music and PIPCU.  Sentencing will take place next month.

PIPCU is a specialist national police unit dedicated to protecting the UK industries that produce legitimate, high quality, physical goods and online and digital content from intellectual property crime.  Funded by the Intellectual Property Office, the unit is based within the Economic Crime Directorate of the City of London Police, which is the National Policing Lead for Fraud.

Detective Constable Steven Kettle, who was in charge of the case, said: “This significant result highlights the issue of digital piracy and its profound effect on the music industry and individual artists whose work is being infringed.  Evans distributed Top 40 chart music and ‘a cappella’ music on a large scale causing significant losses to the industry and he now awaits sentencing.  This investigation demonstrates PIPCU’s commitment in tackling the complex issue of online piracy and the importance of working with our industry partners which includes PRS for Music in achieving the strongest and most successful outcomes.”  To read PRS for Music’s press release in full, click here.