Sharebeast.com, one of the leading file-sharing services in the U.S. that hosted pirated albums, has been seized by the FBI. The shutdown is a big victory for anti-piracy efforts, as Sharebeast was responsible for sharing thousands of pre-release songs and albums online illegally.

The RIAA reportedly sent takedown requests to Sharebeast for more than 100,000 infringing files. Along with their sister sites, albumjams.com and mp3pet.com, the domain names now have a notice that say they have been seized by the FBI.

In a statement provided to Variety, RIAA CEO Cary Sherman stated the seizure was “a huge win for the music community and legitimate music services.” Sherman blasted Sharebeast for operating “with flagrant disregard for the rights of artists and labels while undermining the legal marketplace. Millions of users accessed songs from Sharebeast each month without one penny of compensation going to countless artists, songwriters, labels and others who created the music."

Frequent users of Sharebeast were not happy with the Department of Justice’s takedown. Still, it’s a great step forward in reducing music piracy.

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(Photo: Sharebeast)