April 20, 2009 11:08

Paul McCartney says Pirate Bay verdict was 'fair'

'If you get on a bus, you've got to pay,' says ex-Beatle

Photo Gallery: Paul McCartney
Photo: Pa Photos

Sir Paul McCartney has said that he believes the verdict handed down to four people linked with the The Pirate Bay website was "fair".

Four men were sentenced to a year in jail and fined £2.4 million for their involvement with the file-sharing website, being convicted of copyright infringement in Stockholm last week (April 16).

The former Beatle told BBC Newsbeat that he believed that music should be paid for.

Speaking about the case, he said, "If you get on a bus you've got to pay. And I think it's fair, you should pay your ticket."

He suggested that websites such as The Pirate Bay were harmful to young bands.

"The problem is you get a lot of young bands coming up and some of them aren't going to last forever," he said. "So if they have a massive hit that's going to pay their mortgage forever.

"They're going to feed the children on that and if they don't get that money, if they don't see that money, I think it's a bit of a pity."

One of the website's founders, Peter Sunde Kolmsioppi, has suggested that he will refuse to pay the fine imposed on him as part of the verdict.