Dean(ish)

More of the downhill battle continued, AllofMP3 is being threatened by the RIAA. The RIAA wants AllofMP3 shut down, claiming that AllofMP3 violates the rights of those who own the music by not paying for royalties.

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.

[...]“AllofMP3.com is not a legal service either in Russia or anywhere else,” Lauri Rechardt, head of litigation at IFPI, 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.”

[...]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.”

[...]But recent figures from market research firm XTN Data suggest that AllofMP3’s market share, at 14%, is second only to iTunes, with 44%, in the UK. That puts it ahead of Napster (8%), Wippit (6%) and MSN (6%) in digital music sales. {source}

Despite these allegations, until they’re officially shut down, I will continue to use AllofMP3’s services. On Techdirt’s article on this subject, commenter ThoughtCancer reiterated what I said a while back rather nicely:

Doesn’t anyone else think that the “free market” and the “global economy” and all that BS only works for rich multinationals and not for the ordinary guy like us? I mean, companies buy there crap overseas and do business overseas all the friggin’ time, so they can take advantage of things like cheaper prices, cheaper workers, no labor or environmental laws, etc. But when we the common folk use the EXACT SAME REASONING to buy goods from another country, all of a sudden the corporations freak out and want to shut us down. Tell me how music lovers buying products from another country is any different than when corporations do business in other countries?

It’s not illegal to buy music from a store in Russia and import it here. There are no laws being broken. Allofmp3 was the PERFECT example of the Global Market working as it should. We were able to get a commodity for a cheaper price, legally, and we did so, just like when Dell can get a tech support guy in India for 3 bucks a day or whatever. When are we going to stop taking this bullshit and decide whether the “free market”, the “global economy”, and all that other crap is for everyone, or just for the rich who can afford to buy their own politicians?

Who’s with me?

I am, brutha. Preach it.

Update - June 3, 2006 @ 9:00am: AllofMP3 has made the big time - they’re on Yahoo! News now. I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before the entire operation is shut down at the hands of the recording industry and/or the US/British government.

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