Musicians and industry folk alike have given their reactions to the conclusion of last week’s Pirate Bay trial, where the four operators of the Sweden- based hosting site were found guilty of promoting copyright infringement.

IRMA chief Dick Doyle welcomed the verdict. “The trial of the operators of The Pirate Bay was about defending the rights of creators confirming the illegality of the service.” Paul McCartney also agreed that the ruling was “fair”, as did Streets man Mike Skinner, who said that the notion of free music was wrong and that their attitude “sucked”.

The four were sentenced to a year in jail each, as well as collectively fined €2.6 million. Peter Sunde Kolmsioppi said they would lodge an appeal and achieve an “epic” win that would set a precedent. “Even if we had the money, I would rather burn everything I owned and not even give them the final dust from the burning,” he said from a webcast on the site, which remains online.