Hot 21 Radio

The 23 year old will spend time in UK prison for stealing unreleased music.

Share this page The 23 year old will spend time in UK prison for stealing unreleased music. While some impatient fans might appreciate artists music getting leaked early, most artists themselves are not happy when they dont have control over when and how their new music is released. 23-year-old Adrian Kwiatkowski learned the repercussions of accessing musicians work before its meant to be seen. Kwiatkoski is a hacker who stole unreleased music from massive stars like Frank Ocean, Lil Uzi Vert, Post Malone, and Kanye West. In a UK court, he confessed to breaking into the artists cloud-based accounts and selling the work he found. As a result, Kwiatkoski will be spending 18 months in prison. NEW YORK, NEW YORK SEPTEMBER 23: Music artist Lil Uzi Vert performs on stage during 2022 Rolling Loud New York at Citi Field on September 23, 2022 in New York City. (Photo by Arturo Holmes/Getty Images) Kwiatkowski had complete disregard for the musicians creativity and hard work producing original songs and the subsequent loss of earnings, said the Crown Prosecution Services Joanne Jakymec. He selfishly stole their music to make money for himself. And he made quite a bit of money. According to authorities, Kwiatkowski profited about $147,000 in cryptocurrency he collected from buyers. The sentencing of the hacker has been a long time coming. The Manhattan District Attorneys Office began to look into Kwiatkowskis theft after multiple music management firms reported that some of their clients music had been stolen. At the time, the hacker was calling himself Spirdark and selling his finds on the dark web. The hunt for Kwiatkowski was an international affair. The DAs office worked with the London Police Department and located the hacker through his crypto account and IP address. Apparently, they found more than 500 audio files on his computer. Kwiatkowski was apprehended in September of 2019, and was hit with 19 charges related to the theft. [ Read more