Twenty One Pilots fans may face prosecution for downloading the leaked Suicide Squad song Heathens before its release date.
Atlantic Records, who were forced to launch the track early, have filed a motion asking user-generated site Reddit for the IP address of the person who leaked the song. They say the track was sent out to a small sample group from within the band’s label – and they believe the leaker is either a label employee, on the management team or in the band.
The petition reads: “If the poster is an Atlantic employee, he or she was a contractual and/or fiduciary duty to Atlantic not to distribute the recording to the public without Atlantic’s authorisation. By distributing the recording as described above, he or she would have breached his or her contract and/or fiduciary duties to Atlantic.
“If the poster is not an Atlantic employee, then he or she likely obtained the recording from an Atlantic employee, who would have breached his or her contract and/or fiduciary duties to Atlantic by providing the poster access to the recording.”
Though many fans using the #TheCliqueGoesToJailParty hashtag joked about the prospect of facing a jail term for unlawfully downloading Heathens, their concerns are not without ground. According to the Recording Industry Association of America, people who make unauthorised copies of copyrighted music can be subjected to civil and criminal liability.
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Those who break the law can face up to five years of jail time and a fine of up to $250,000. While Atlantic Records are currently pursuing the original leaker only, the Recording Industry Association of America’s website states: “It’s never okay to download unauthorised music from pirate sites (web or FTP) or peer-to-peer systems, such as BitTorrent.”
Last year Nightwish said they felt “violated” after their track Elan was leaked before its official launch.
In 2009, music blogger Kevin Cogill pled guilty to copyright infringement for leaking part of the Guns N’ Roses album Chinese Democracy. He was sentenced to two months of home confinement and a year of probation.
Twenty One Pilots are currently touring the US before appearing at the Reading and Leeds Festivals in the UK later this month.
Twenty One Pilots tour dates 2016⁄17
Aug 02: St Louis Scottrade Center, MO
Aug 03: Rogers Walmart Arkansas Music Pavilion, AR
Aug 05: Orange Beach The Amphitheater at The Wharf, AL
Aug 06: Duluth Infinite Energy Center, GA
Aug 07: Nashville Ascend Amphitheater, TN
Aug 10: New York Madison Square Garden, NY
Aug 11: New York Madison Square Garden, NY
Aug 26-28: Reading Festival, UK
Aug 26-28: Leeds Festival, UK
Sep 30: Mexico City Palacio De Los Deportes, Mexico
Oct 22: Moscow Stadium Live, Russia
Oct 23: St Petersburg A2, Russia
Oct 25: Helsinki Ice Hall, Finland
Oct 27: Stockholm Annexet, Sweden
Oct 29: Oslo Spektrum, Norwau
Oct 30: Copenhagen Falconer Salen, Denmark
Oct 31: Hamburg Sporthalle, Germany
Nov 02: Berlin Columbiahalle, Germany
Nov 03: Warsaw Torwar, Poland
Nov 04: Prague Forum Karlin, Czech Republic
Nov 05: Vienna stadthalle, Austria
Nov 07: Milan Mediolanum, Italy
Nov 08: Munich Zenith, Germany
Nov 09: Dusseldorg Mitsubishi Electric, Germany
Nov 15: Amsterdam Heineken Music Hall, Netherlands
Nov 16: Brussels Forest Vorst, Belgium
Nov 17: Paris Le Zenith, France
Jan 17: Providence Dunkin Donuts Center, RI
Jan 18: Bridgeport Webster Bank Arena, CT
Jan 20: Brooklyn Barclays Center, NY
Jan 21: Newark Prudential Center, NJ
Jan 22: Charlottesville John Paul Jones Arena,
Jan 24: ALlentown PPL Center, PA
Jan 25: Albany Times Center, NY
Jan 27: Pittsburgh Consol Energy Center, PA
Jan 28: Chicago United Center, IL
Jan 29: Moline iWireless Center, IL
Jan 31: Madison Alliant Energy Center, WI
Feb 01: Omaha CenturyLink Center, NE
Feb 03: Wichita Intrust Bank Arena, KS
Feb 04: Sioux Falls Premier Center, SD
Feb 07: Bozeman Brick Breeden, MT
Feb 08: Boise Taco Bell Arena, ID
Feb 10: San Jose SAP Center, CA
Feb 11: Sacramento SAP Center, CA
Feb 14: Fresno Save Mart Center, CA
Feb 15: Anaheim Honda Center, CA
Feb 18: Las Vegas Mandalay Bay Events, NV
Feb 19: Tucson Arena, AZ
Feb 21: Tulsa BOK Center, OK
Feb 22: Dallas American Airlines Center, TX
Feb 24: Birmingham BJCC Arena, AL
Feb 25: Greensboro Coliseum, NC
Feb 26: North Charleston Coliseum, NC
Feb 28: Tampa Amalie Arena,FL
Mar 02: New Orleans Smoothie King Center, LA
Mar 03: North Little Rock, AR
Mar 04: Memphis FedEx Forum, TN
Mar 05: Louisville KFC Yum Center, KY
Mar 24: Wellington TSB Bank Arena, New Zealand
Mar 25: Auckland Vector Arena, New Zealand
Mar 27: Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Australia
Mar 29: Adelaide Entertainment Centre, Australia
Mar 31: Melbourne Rod Laver Arena, Australia
Apr 01: Sydney Qudos Bank Arena, Australia
Apr 08: Perth Arena, Australia
