Filed under: Audio, Internet, News
RIAA drops lawsuit against AllofMP3
A few years ago you could purchase practically any song you wanted from the Russian music site AllofMP3. And the songs were dirt cheap. While you had to pay Apple roughly a buck for every song you purchased legally in the US, AllofMP3 charged just a few cents per song. If that all sounds too good to be true, the RIAA thought so too. The US recording industry trade group took legal action against AllofMP3 in late 2006, and Russian authorities shut down the service in 2007.
Last week the RIAA dropped its complaint against AllofMP3. An RIAA spokesperson told Bloomberg that there wasn't much reason to continue with the suit, since the site had been shut down.
But as TorrentFreak points out, the same people who created AllofMP3 now have another site that's nearly identical. The only difference we can find is that it has a new name - Mp3Sparks. Like its predecesser, the site sells music at ridiculously low prices, and doesn't appear to pass any of the proceeds along to artists in the US. So we're pretty sure that the RIAA will be filing another suit soon. Or claiming victory and pretending the new site doesn't exist. Definitely one or the other. Possibly both.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Anthony said 10:23PM on 5-27-2008
I'm confused... so is it illegal to buy the music off of mp3sparks? If so then what's the point of paying for it? If it's not illegal then what the hell... i'm so confused, any help?
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Kody said 10:43PM on 5-27-2008
I think it's illegal on THEIR end but not on the consumer. I would think it would be EXTREMELY hard to hold up in court that YOU broke the law.
Think about it this way, you walk into a shop at the local mall called "CD's R Us!" and buy a few CD's for SUPER cheap. A few weeks later you see on the news that that shop was raided by the cops because ALL of the CD's were stolen. Would you get in trouble for buying there? Nope, your good to go.
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Grant Robertson said 7:18AM on 5-28-2008
It's worth pointing out that, although unlikely, that CD store example you cite *could* be charged as "theft by receiving" in most jurisdictions. It's pretty much illegal to do anything if you stare at a law book at just the right angle.
That being said; it's been rare if not unheard of that the RIAA goes after the customers in situations such as this. As long as you don't share the files via P@P apps once you have them -- thus opening yourself up to legal pressure in another, totally different way -- you're probably safe. *Maybe* even safer than downloading from those aforementioned P2P networks.
There's always risk. It's complicated. Just to clear that up.
Stuart Halliday said 4:37PM on 5-28-2008
You may.
Buying illegal goods from a criminal makes you an accessory. Of course the courts would have to prove you knew they were illegal at time of purchase...
In any case you'd have to return the goods to the police IIRC.
Jeebus said 2:16PM on 5-28-2008
Buying stolen property is a crime in itself.
Buying copyrighted material is itself not a breach of copyright on the part of the purchaser, since you're not breaching any copyright.
Jon said 7:17AM on 5-28-2008
Shhhh...
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emmzee said 7:18AM on 5-28-2008
If the DownloadStore post is accurate, no money goes to the artist from Mp3Sparks. So if that's the case, why bother buying songs from them, why not just download them instead? Each is equally illegitimate.
No money is going to the original artist who created the songs either way; at least by downloading you're not helping someone else get rich off of someone else's work.
Or, ideally, you could, y'know, actually buy the songs legitimately ...
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Jeebus said 2:19PM on 5-28-2008
I think the reason no money goes to the RIAA artist is because RIAA has declined. That makes it a morally different.
Slick said 7:18AM on 5-28-2008
AllofMp3, mp3sparks & the others in Russia do pay royalties, but they pay at a much lower rate than the RIAA wants. The royalties have been offered to the RIAA in the past, but they refused them.
The "gray area" seems to be, can people from outside Russia take advantage of the lower prices there.
I don't see why not. I mean, can't we purchase goods from other countries online? I've purchased shareware that way.. Companies order products from China and other countries. Purchasing goods & services at the best rate available is after all the "American Way". heh
The RIAA are extortionists and have proven it countless times.
Google for: RIAA trillions
and see what you get.
The RIAA sued AllofMp3 for $1.65 TRILLION !
They claimed that was the amount they lost in sales because of AllofMp3. ROFLOL
And we are supposed to take them seriously ?
Unfortunately, many have been forced to, partly due to weak-kneed politicians in the US.
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Stuart Halliday said 4:37PM on 5-28-2008
I'd love to know why the credit card companies pulled out of MPsparks.
Surely the company should be judged as 'not guilty' until proven otherwise?
Looks like the RIAA and BPI (the UK version) pulled strings to bleed MP3sparks dry of its customers?
MrGutts said 7:59AM on 5-28-2008
Damn guys, the RIAA has got you guys all worked up. Stop using the word illegal. Just because the RIAA says it, doesn't mean it's true.
The Russian government already told the RIAA to screw themselves thats why they dropped the suit, because they have absolutely 0 power in another country. The court system in Russia already ruled in favor of allofmp3 as well.
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Mike said 1:47PM on 5-28-2008
What is sad (and also ironic) is that if you buy music the "old fashioned way" (go into a store and buy a legal CD), the artist will probably also not got paid. The money for CDs goes mostly (if not completely) into the pockets of the big record companies, not the artists who created the music.
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poopy_pants said 2:13PM on 5-28-2008
nice prices and a good offering of several encoding rates, but i have other means to acqure music.
great site though.... the RIAA and MPAA can screw off
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Stuart Halliday said 4:37PM on 5-28-2008
AllofMP3 offered something for many years no other online service did or does to this day - Allows you to buy online music at a decent price.
Some of us live in the UK and 99% of online music stores are USA only.
When AllofMP3 shutdown they transferred their accounts to MP3sparks.
But now MP3sparks is effectively dead to its oversea customers as it has had all of its lines of monies blocked by the credit card companies and Paypal.
So you can't put in any more credit as much as you may like to.
The other Russian sites are not safe. As they often disappear after a few months without warning and you're left with nothing to show for your deposit.
MP3sparks or Alltunes (its desktop application) are/were great examples on how to offer a great service at a decent price. The ease, flexibility and large range of choice of filetypes you could download were a template for other sites to aspire to.
Maybe in 5 years time the World Music companies will get around to emulating this much missed company?
But don't hold your breath....
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idl3mind said 8:03AM on 5-29-2008
I read a long article about a year ago about how royalties are handled in Russia, and the rules that apply in the US do not apply in Russia. From what I understand, artists have to contact the Russian-RIAA-equivalent to get their royalties before the first dollar (or ruble) is paid, unlike the RIAA where royalties are just automagically paid. Am I incorrect in this?
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