Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol performs on stage during the British leg of the Live Earth concerts at London's Wembley Stadium in London

Snow Patrol frontman Gary Lightbody told the crowd he hoped Saturday's concert could become an annual or bi- annual event

Alan Lewis - Photopress Belfast 19/3/2009..Picture by Justin Kernoghan..Snow Patrol on stage at the Odyssey Arena tonight...(Gary Lightbody, lead vocals, Jonny Quinn, drums, Nathan Connolly, lead guitar, Paul Wilson, bass guitar, Tom Simpson, keyboards).

Alan Lewis - Photopress Belfast 19/3/2009..Picture by Justin Kernoghan..Snow Patrol on stage at the Odyssey Arena tonight...(Gary Lightbody, lead vocals, Jonny Quinn, drums, Nathan Connolly, lead guitar, Paul Wilson, bass guitar, Tom Simpson, keyboards).

Alan Lewis - Photopress Belfast 19/3/2009..Picture by Justin Kernoghan..Snow Patrol - Gary Lightbody on stage at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast.

Alan Lewis - Photopress Belfast 19/3/2009..Picture by Justin Kernoghan..Snow Patrol - Gary Lightbody (left) and Nathan Connelly on stage at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast.

Alan Lewis - Photopress Belfast 19/3/2009..Picture by Justin Kernoghan..Snow Patrol on stage at the Odyssey Arena tonight...(Gary Lightbody, lead vocals, Jonny Quinn, drums, Nathan Connolly, lead guitar, Paul Wilson, bass guitar, Tom Simpson, keyboards).

Snow Patrol frontman Gary Lightbody has slammed the jail sentences given to the founders of filesharing site Pirate Bay.

Lightbody, singer and songwriter of Snow Patrol, the most successful Northern Ireland export since Van Morrison, said the year-long terms are "way over the top".

The four men, Frederik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Carl Lundstrom and Peter Sunde, were also fined $4.5m (£3m) for copyright infringement.

“They shouldn’t have been jailed,” he said.

“A year in jail for someone doing that is crazy. The punishment doesn’t fit the crime.”

Lightbody also told The Big Issue that he wasn't against illegal music downloads.

“I’m not anti-filesharing at all. This is the modern way.



"We’ve brought it on ourselves and you have to live in the society you created.

"Music is available to everyone if they know how to get. I say f**king go for it."

He added that he paid for all his own music, however. "I love getting an album back and looking through the booklet and the artwork," he said.

"That's lost when you download it."

The four founders are refusing to pay the fine and are now seeking a retrial after it emerged that the judge in the case is a member of the Swedish Copyright Association, alongside members of the entertainment industry.

Speaking at an online press conference, Peter Sunde described the verdict as "bizarre".

"It's serious to actually be found guilty and get jail time. It's really serious. And that's a bit weird," Sunde said.

"It's so bizarre that we were convicted at all and it's even more bizarre that we were [convicted] as a team. The court said we were organised. I can't get Gottfrid out of bed in the morning. If you're going to convict us, convict us of disorganised crime.

"We can't pay and we wouldn't pay. Even if I had the money I would rather burn everything I owned, and I wouldn't even give them the ashes."

The Pirate Bay verdict appears to be achieving the opposite to the outcome intended by the copyright advocates with support for the site and its political offshoot, the Pirate Party reportedly going from strength to strength.

Since the verdict, support for the Swedish Pirate Party has surpassed that of the Swedish Green Party and it now appears that almost half of all Swedish males under the age of 30 are considering voting for the Pirate Party in the 2009 European Parliament elections.

Links of interest:

Pirate Bay

Wikipedia: The Pirate Bay

Google Custom Search: Torrents

Belfast Telegraph