Posted on 05/30/2006 7:44:20 AM PDT by nickcarraway
A hugely popular seller of music downloads is illegal, according to the music industry, and prosecutions are underway.
AllofMP3.com, a Moscow-based service that undercuts iTunes by enormous margins, was accused today of paying nothing to artists.
The website, run by MediaServices Inc, has long protested its innocence. Yet the prices are remarkable: a British shopper can download an album from iTunes Music Store for £9.79; or typically about £0.75 from AllofMP3, which prices its downloads by file size. And the choice is enormous. All those Beatles albums that Apple is not allowed to sell can be found at AllofMP3.com for under a pound.
According to MediaServices, everything is licensed by the Russian Multimedia and Internet Society (ROMS) and the Rightholders Federation for Collective Copyright Management of Works Used Interactively (FAIR). MediaServices says that it pays licence fees "subject to the Law of the Russian Federation". It adds that it is not responsible for the actions of foreign users.
It has been suggested that the service falls through a loophole in Russian law; that public performances of recorded music do not require the authority of copyright holders; that the website pays ROMS and ROMS pays the artists; and that AllofMP3 operates within a grey area of the law.
But this is nonsense, according to the IFPI which represents the recording industry worldwide, with over 1,450 members in 75 countries, including Russia.
"AllofMP3.com is not a legal service either in Russia or anywhere else," IFPI head of litigation Lauri Rechardt told OUT-LAW today.
Rechardt said the site is distributing music without any permission from the artists or copyright holders.
"Unlike all the legitimate sites, it does not pay artists or copyright holders so it is effectively stealing from those who create music," he said. "Like most things that appear to be too good to be true, AllofMP3.com is not what it seems."
Regarding the claim of a licence from ROMS, Rechardt described ROMS as "a Russian organisation that claims to be a collecting society."
He continued: "ROMS has no rights from the record companies whatsoever to licence these pieces of music. ROMS and AllofMP3.com are well aware that record companies have not granted authorisation for this service."
He urged British consumers to stick to legal services. "Downloading from AllofMP3.com is illegal in most countries," he said. "Allofmp3.com clearly operates outside the international standards for copyright law, established by the EU Copyright Directive and World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) treaties."
Rechardt continued: "Even if one took AllofMP3.com’s license from ROMS as legitimate, which it is clearly not, it would still have no extra-territorial effect."
The site itself acknowledges: "You are not able to download audio and video from AllOFMP3.com if is (sic) in conflict with the laws of your country of residence."
But recent figures from market research firm XTN Data suggest that AllofMP3's market share, at 14 per cent, is second only to iTunes, with 44 per cent, in the UK. That puts it ahead of Napster (8 per cent), Wippit (6 per cent) and MSN (6 per cent) in digital music sales.
Legal action has begun. There are two separate criminal proceedings ongoing in Russia. The public prosecutor in Moscow is taking a former director of MediaServices to trial. And a second case against a current director of MediaServices is in the investigation phase, according to the IFPI.
In May 2005, a German court granted a preliminary injunction against the site saying that it had no right to offer music in Germany without the proper rights holders' consent. In October 2005, the Italian authorities shut down a portal, allofMP3.it, and began a criminal investigation into it.
British consumers who buy music from an unlicensed site are infringing copyright. In theory, they could be sued by the music industry. However, the industry's legal action to date has targeted only those who upload music for others to access, using peer-to-peer services like Kazaa.
"According to MediaServices, everything is licensed by the Russian Multimedia and Internet Society (ROMS) and the Rightholders Federation for Collective Copyright Management of Works Used Interactively (FAIR). MediaServices says that it pays licence fees "subject to the Law of the Russian Federation". It adds that it is not responsible for the actions of foreign users."
This is like someone you never hired or had an agreement with renting your home out without your permissin.
"Well, we don't really have authority to let you sell the is music, but if you give us money, you can say you have our permission to do it!"
As if iTunes or other of these download sites pay artists.
10 GBP to download an album? A bargain at twice the price!
Artists are nothing but employees of the record company. It's no different than when you buy a car from, say, a GM dealer, the dealer doesn't pay the factory workers.
Ping
marked for later.
Itunes isn't very transparent with the cancellation procedure LOL. They make it nearly impossible to deactivate a PC from being able to make purchases. All very insidious and no doubt intentionally difficult. Screw them.
Oh, yeah, going to the Advanced menu in iTunes and selecting "Deauthorize Computer" is SOOOOO hard.
Three clicks is difficult?
That's pretty far from my actual experience.
I've considered downloading some stuff from AllOfMP3, but I'd stick to stuff I already own (say, on vinyl). Certainly that would be legal; I've already paid the royalties.
All of your MP3 are belong to us.
Tallhappy- check your facts-- iTunes gives the artists ( or their label ) $.50 to $.55 cents on the dollar of sales. The record industry typically gives an artsit- $.02 to $.03 cents on the dollar. So for an artist, they are able to open their own label, sign up directly with Apple in a non-exclusive contract and put food on the table. Now thats not to say that people alreaddy in contracts with the big labels arent screwed, as the label gets paid and can typically give the artist whatever their contract allows for ( which is probably well below slave wages in most cases) , but you know, those artists signed a contract there- Most learn from it quickly as they get taken by labels when they are young and ignorant of how these guys operate--- But Apple is giving the best money in the industry AND offers the best selection at the most reasonable prices
Now, Real , microsoft and the others? Pretty sure their deal is nowhere as sweet--- They are hemmoraging money and still dont undestand that by paying better $ to the talent , they get more music---
I wish I had every product in my stores at 50-55% margin....
It doesn't work for my system and when I called to have my credit card removed they said I had to do that online. I think you missed my point. I should not have said deactivate. I mean disassociate. They won't terminate the relationship and when I try to delete the credit card it says I have to use a credit card to delete a credit card. Circular. Call them and try to get a credit card removed. They'll tell you to cancel the credit card. They seem to be designed to be intentially obtuse about killing accounts.
My wife happened to set up my kid with our debit card so we would have to cancel our bank debit card. I just gave up trying to get rid of the purchase ability and tol my kids to cease and desist (the old fashioned way). It is definitely not easy to terminate the relationship regardless of what you write.
There is no way I would trust a Russia-based company with my credit card information, it's not worth it.
Here, I fixed the headline to accurately reflect their position. ;)
All MP3's are illegal, says music industry
I'll wait until a more trustworthy source confirms it.
Sounds like the Russian Mob vs. the Recording Industry Mob.
I started iTunes, used the View Account command and I'm looking at the Edit Credit Card command. It seems easy so far.
OR - just sell you CDs with CDBaby and you get almost the same deal without having to start your own label. ITunes, Rhapsody, all the services are included.
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