The Luton cyber hacker, named Skylar Dalziel, pleaded guilty yesterday (January 3) to stealing unreleased music from multiple Sony Music Entertainment’s artists, including Coldplay, Shawn Mendes, Bebe Rexha and more; according to the BBC.
Dalziel, 22, admitted 11 copyright offences at Luton Crown Court, including three counts of acquiring and possessing criminal property and one count of transferring criminal property.
It was reported that Dalziel’s actions came to light when Sony Music Entertainment discovered a cloud account owned by American singer-songwriter Upsahl had been compromised, allegedly by Dalziel, and was consequently reported to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) in June 2021.
According to the police, roughly 40 unreleased tracks were extracted from the account and sold illegally online.
A hacker who stole unreleased music from artists including Coldplay and sold it online, has been sentenced to 21 months imprisonment, suspended for 24 months.
An investigation by @CityPolicePIPCU revealed that Skylar Dalziel, 22, pocketed around £42,000.https://t.co/DNsd3bjggO pic.twitter.com/L3ND4AyJvQ
— City of London Police (@CityPolice) January 3, 2025
Detective Constable Daryl Fryatt, from the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit noted: “Stealing copyrighted material for your own financial gain is illegal. It jeopardises the work of artists and the livelihoods of the people who work with them to create and release music”.
Dalziel was arrested by police on January 9, 2023, where officers seized three drives with an estimated 291,941of unreleased music tracks contained on them.
It was also reported that the police located a spreadsheet curated by Dalziel, which showed the tracks she had sold to customers, along with her PayPal and bank accounts that had received £42,049 from the stolen goods, between April 2021 and January 2023.
The City of London Police have also revealed that some of Dalziel’s profits were allegedly sent to bank accounts owned by individuals in the United States. The institution warned it was collaboratively working with Homeland Security Investigations to unveil the owners of these bank accounts.
@CPSUK & @CityPolicePIPCU worked to stop the buying of unreleased music including by Coldplay and Shawn Mendes. It is estimated that she made around £35,000 ($45,000) in selling ‘hacked’ copyrighted music via the dark web.
Read more https://t.co/1tBQIjOyzb pic.twitter.com/EQCJZtyp3r
— Crown Prosecution Service (@CPSUK) January 3, 2025
The Prosecutor Richard Partridge from Luton Crown Court, stated: Dalziel “selfishly used their music to make money for herself by selling it on the dark web”.
Skylar Dalziel’s guilty plea meant she was sentenced to 21 months’ imprisonment, suspended for 24 months, alongside 180 hours of unpaid work.
Detective Constable Fryatt continued to provide hindsight to the sentencing and the online culture of leaked tracks, stating: “[it] sends a clear message that we have the ability and tools to locate cyber criminals and hold them to account for their actions”.
