Huge pirate music site shut down

British and Dutch police have shut down a “widely-used” source of illegally-downloaded music. A flat on Teesside and several properties in Amsterdam were raided as part of an Interpol investigation into the members-only website OiNK.

The UK-run site has leaked 60 major pre-release albums this year alone, said the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI).

A 24-year-old man from Middlesbrough was arrested on Tuesday morning.

There are a number of inaccuracies in the BBC report and press release issued by the IFPI. OiNK is not a pay site and does not specialize in distributing pre-release material. It is a free, by invitation only site that specializes in “secure” rips (i.e. with Exact Audio Copy) of hard to find, often out of print material.