Finnish police identify man who leaked new Rammstein single

Helsinki - 07th December 2009

The North Karelia Police Department has established the identity of the Finnish person who leaked the German rock band Rammstein's single Liebe Ist Für Alle Da on the internet before its official release.

In September, the Finnish Copyright Information and Anti-Piracy Centre (CIAPC) was notified by its German sister organisation of the possibility that the unauthorised uploading of the Rammstein single on Rapidshare, the file-hosting service, was the work of a Finnish person. Rammstein's latest single was officially released on 16th October 2009.

The Rapidshare service allows users to upload files onto the company's servers and to receive a unique URL to download the file later; the link can thereafter be distributed in music blogs and elsewhere.

The leaking of new music on the internet before official release has lately become one of the most pressing problems for the music industry. The earlier the leak occurs, the more it decreases the sales of the official product in the first few weeks after release. With music albums, the sales of the first four weeks yield, on average, 56 per cent of the overall sales of the album. Music labels invest as much as 20 per cent of their revenue in the discovery of new artists and in the production of new music.

"The album sales of the most popular artists support the careers of many smaller and still lesser-known artists," says Tommi Kyyrä, deputy director of IFPI Finland.

The possibility of leaks has resulted in increased security measures in the release plans of new music. "In September, we had not yet received any promo discs of the new Rammstein single, not one", notes Pekka Säilä, product manager for Universal Music Finland. In addition, it is one of the most important duties of anti-piracy organisations, such as CIAPC, to prevent leaks and to investigate the origins of the leaks that do occur.

On the basis of information received, CIAPC reported the matter to the police. The North Karelia Police, who investigated the case, established the identity of the person who had uploaded the file. When questioned, the man, who lives in Joensuu, admitted to having uploaded the single onto the Rapidshare service and to having posted the download URL onto discussion forums. It was also established during the course of the investigation that the material had originally been leaked by someone else other than the person in question. CIAPC and the person in question have agreed on the amount of the compensation payable by the latter; in addition, the police issued a fine to him.

"The most important issue for us was to determine whether the Finnish man was the original leaker of the single. This case shows that by way of international co-operation and police work it is indeed possible to investigate copyright offences committed. The Finnish police are very skilled in this sort of work," comments Antti Kotilainen, the managing director of CIAPC.