Websites belonging to KISS’s Gene Simmons have been hacked following the bassist’s recent comments about illegal downloading.

Last week, Simmons urged musicians to protect their catalogue and “sue everybody” who shared their music illegally.

In response, online attackers, Anonymous, hijacked SimmonsRecords.com and GeneSimmons.com.

Both sites - which have since been restored - featured a letter headed: “Operation Payback (Is A B*tch).”

Appearing at the MIPCOM convention in Cannes, France, Simmons accused the music industry of not reacting fast enough to curb the problem of illegal file-sharing.

The bassist said lawsuits should have been issued against illegal downloaders sooner and that the error had cost “hundreds of thousands of jobs” in the industry.

(by Jason Gregory)