Abstract:
A British man was sentenced to three years and six months in prison by the Inner London Crown Court for long-term large-scale production and sales of pirated vinyl records. The police said this was one of the largest cases of pirated vinyl records seized in the UK so far. The man involved earned approximately 2.743 million pounds from this illegal business between 2017 and 2024.
The defendant's name is Rehan Ahmed, 40 years old, from west London. He operates a complete underground vinyl record production and sales system through a company called Phoenix of Vinyl. He not only presses the records himself, but also sells them to consumers through physical record stores and online platforms such as eBay and Discogs.
This case was originally discovered by the British Phonographic Industry. In 2024, a staff member of the association made a test purchase from Phoenix of Vinyl as an ordinary consumer and later handed over relevant clues to the police. Following an investigation by the Intellectual Property Crime Unit of the City of London Police, its production site in Acton, London, was raided in February 2024.
The police found a large number of pirated vinyl records and complete production equipment at the scene. The total weight of the seized evidence reached about 18 tons, including 2,791 vinyl records that had been produced, about 3,000 metal pressing molds, a large number of record sleeves and center labels, as well as lacquer plates used to make records and other materials.
The police also found that the scene was equipped with four vinyl record presses made about 70 years ago. Although these equipment are very old, they are still capable of producing real vinyl records, which means that the records involved are not simply copying covers or making cheap imitations, but physical records produced through actual pressing processes.
The seized records involved the works of 108 different musicians, covering pop music, rock and other eras and genres. The list includes well-known artists such as Adele, Ariana Grande, Bad Bunny, Drake, Beyoncé, Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran and The Beatles.
The police believe that this underground factory actually has industrial production capabilities. Rather than just selling a few pirated records sporadically online, Ahmed has established a complete supply chain from record pressing and packaging to wholesale and retail. The records in question flow both into brick-and-mortar record stores that are still operating in London and are also sold directly to consumers via the Internet.
The investigation revealed that Ahmed’s illegal business had been operating continuously since at least 2017. Earlier, he had received a legal cease-and-desist notice for related activities, but he did not stop producing and selling pirated records because of this, but continued to operate for several years.
Ultimately, Ahmed pleaded guilty to operating this illegal business and infringing music copyright, and admitted to being involved in obtaining and using proceeds of crime. The court subsequently sentenced him to 3 years and 6 months in prison.
Police said that according to sales records obtained during the investigation, Ahmed generated approximately 2.743 million pounds in sales revenue through the sale of pirated records in the past seven years. The British Phonographic Industry Association believes that this illegal business activity has caused greater economic losses to artists, record companies and retailers who legally sell music products.
The case comes as the vinyl record market is experiencing a rare recovery in recent years. Physical records were once in a long-term decline as streaming music became mainstream, but in recent years vinyl records have regained popularity with consumers and collectors, and sales have continued to grow.
Vinyl records have become a popular physical music product again, allowing pirates to rediscover a profitable market. Compared with digital piracy, physical piracy requires investment in equipment such as tablet presses, molds, sleeves, and logistics. However, since the price of genuine vinyl records is relatively high, limited editions, collector's editions, and out-of-print records of some popular artists can even be sold at very high prices. Therefore, pirated products also have large profit margins.
Peter Ratcliffe, head of content protection at the British Phonographic Industry Association, said that while the physical music market is growing again, the pirated record market is also growing, and criminals are taking advantage of consumers' renewed interest in vinyl records to profit. This not only harms music creators and the legitimate music industry, but also makes consumers who purchase pirated products the affected party.
The City of London Police stated that Ahmed’s case shows that piracy of physical music is no longer just a small-scale personal copy, but may develop into an underground industry with industrial production capabilities. The police will continue to investigate and enforce criminal activities that infringe on intellectual property rights and harm the interests of the creative industry.
The 2,791 vinyl records seized in this case were only part of the final seizure by the police. The four old-fashioned tablet presses, approximately 3,000 metal molds, and a large number of jackets and labels found at the scene further proved that this system was not a temporary patchwork, but a complete underground manufacturing facility that had been operating for a long time.
As the vinyl record market continues to grow, the UK music industry is also stepping up monitoring of physical piracy. For consumers, although pirated records may be very close to genuine products in appearance and playback format, their sales are not authorized by the copyright holders. This case also shows that the resurgent market around vinyl records is becoming a new area of focus for copyright enforcement agencies.
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