Snow Patrol rocker Gary Lightbody has blasted the prison sentence handed to Scandinavian music pirates - insisting fans are welcome to download his songs for free.

The four founders of website The Pirate Bay were convicted in Sweden this month and sentenced to a year in prison after they was found guilty of breaching copyright laws. They were also ordered to pay $3.48 million in damages to a number of entertainment companies whose material they pirated.

Lightbody insists the sentence was too "way over the top" - and claims the music industry needs to come to terms with the fact that songs are freely available online.

He says, "They shouldn't have been jailed. A year in jail for someone doing that is crazy. The punishment doesn't fit the crime. This is what we've brought on ourselves and you have to live in the society you created. Music is available to everyone if they know how to get it and I say f**king go for it.

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(This news article provided by World Entertainment News Network)