A UK man who operated an unlicensed vinyl pressing plant and printed thousands of bootleg records by some of the biggest names in contemporary music was sentenced to three and a half years in prison, bringing to a close what British police described as the largest seizure of counterfeit vinyl in the country’s history.Rehan Ahmed, 40, was sentenced Friday at Inner London Crown Court.
The investigation began when representatives of the British Phonographic Industry, a trade group for the region’s recording business, bought a record as a test from the man’s ‘Phoenix of Vinyl’ warehouse and determined it was a fake.Police eventually raided the site in February 2024, when they found 2,791 counterfeit records copying the work of 108 artists, among them Adele, Ariana Grande, Bad Bunny, Drake, Beyoncé, Rihanna, Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran.
The records had been produced on four presses that were each roughly 70 years old.Investigators also seized about 3,000 metal stampers, which are the molds used to cut a record’s grooves, along with thousands of sleeves and center labels.
City of London Police officers ultimately carried off 18 metric tons of evidence.The department said Ahmed profited £2.7 million, or roughly $3.6 million, after spearheading the “long‑running, highly organized and entirely unlicensed manufacturing operation,” per The Independent.
Detective Constable Daryl Fryatt of the police force’s intellectual property crime unit said Ahmed had “exploited” the revival of interest in vinyl to enrich himself at the expense of musicians and the industry that supports them.“We will continue to pursue criminals who target the creative industries and bring them to justice when they do,” Fryatt said.
“This case should send a clear message to anyone selling counterfeit vinyl, it is illegal and we will take action.” Scroll to continue more from edm Pretty Lights Visual Artist, Anti-Alias, Announces Depa...