The Heist is a takeover; a bloody and ruthless revolt at the hands of the world's greatest independent labels that provides an essential bridging point between illegal and legal downloading. Not only has it already helped revolutionise the listening habits of countless music fans it has also helped open these people up to a myriad of breathtakingly brilliant new artists. And all for free.

The crux of TheHeist is simple. For one week at a time The Downloader is taken over by a leading independent label. For each day that week that label provides a completely free full digital download exclusively to The Downloader. These are not timed-out downloads; these are not play-limited downloads; these are 5 simple MP3 files that are made available for fans to keep and play for as long as they see fit.

There's no catch here. The Downloader was set-up to attract people to the benefits of legal digital music and to do this we teamed up with leading independent labels to entice new music fans to investigate the immense benefits and convenience of legal music downloads.

In February 2007 The Downloader will launch it's third season of The Heist. After the runaway success of Season One (March 2006) and Season Two (October 2006) it promises to be one of the most talked about online events of the year.