RSSAllofMP3 Closer to Being Shut Down
By Nate Mook | Published May 21, 2007, 12:37 PM
While authorities in the United States and Europe can't directly shut down Russia music store AllofMP3.com, which they say sells songs without paying licenses or royalties to artists, they have been successful in cutting off the site's ability to take money from customers outside Russia.
PayPal, MasterCard and Visa have already stopped handling payments for the service, leading AllofMP3 to resort to a "voucher" system, which United States and European consumers could use to purchase music. Songs on the site are offered for pennies, far less than licensed services like Apple's iTunes.
The voucher system, however, received a major blow with the arrest of a 25-year-old man in London. According to IFPI, a group representing the recording industry internationally, the individual was the UK-based European sales representative for AllofMP3, selling vouchers on a Web site and auction services like eBay.
The man charged 10 pounds for each voucher, and transferred the money into various offshore bank accounts used by AllofMP3. Thousands of vouchers had been sold, according to Metropolitan Police who conducted a dawn raid earlier this month and seized computers and other documents.
"Despite false claims by the site that it pays record companies and artists, it has no permission from record companies to sell downloads in the UK and has been illegally undercutting legitimate services such as iTunes, Napster 2.0 and HMV Digital by not compensating the artists and record companies concerned," IFPI said in a statement.
For its part, AllofMP3 parent company Mediaservices continues to assert its legitimacy. "The availability over the Internet of the ALLOFMP3.com materials is authorized by the license # LS-3?-05-03 of the Russian Multimedia and Internet Society (ROMS). In accordance to the licenses' terms Mediaservices pays license fees for all materials downloaded from the site," a notice on the site says.
Mediaservices claims to pay royalties to ROMS, the copyright holder service sanctioned by the Russian Parliament, and to FAIR (Rights holders Federation for Collective Copyright Management of Works Used Interactively). Under Russian law, as long as a distributor of music pays 15% of its collection fees to ROMS, it's a legal service.
But regulators outside Russia don't agree with that assessment.
"Allofmp3.com is an illegal download service and the decision by major credit cards and payment services no longer to support it amply demonstrates that fact," remarked Geoff Taylor, head of British music association BPI. "British music fans should beware of voucher schemes like this one that seek to prop up an illegal service that rips off artists."
Pressure on the site continues to grow. AllofMP3 is blocked in Denmark and Germany, and an Italian version is under investigation. In December, United States music publishers sued the company for $1.65 trillion. In addition, Russia has been specifically asked to shut down the site if it wishes to join the World Trade Organization.
This is the best music site out there.
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|enjoyed reading this ,thanks
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|Betanews mods and admins, this guy is everywhere - how about banning him? I thought spamming was gainst the TOS...?
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|The site seems to be working again, albeit slowly. It wouldn't take my login at first; I got a "could not connect" message and when I refreshed it returned me to another login page. However, that worked and I was able to browse the site. I didn't try downloading anything Their "payment methods" page still mentions credit cards, although when I tested it I got the message "Unfortunately credit card payment is not available at the moment. You can make a payment at http://www.alltunes.com/. You may use your AllofMP3.com login and password."
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|"Allofmp3.com is an illegal download service and the decision by major credit cards and payment services no longer to support it amply demonstrates that fact," remarked Geoff Taylor, head of British music association BPI.
LOL yet they (CC companies) still take payment for countless Child porn sites... as long as the music is safe then I guess the world will be a better place
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|Ill second that...
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|If Amazon was smart, they'd buy Allofmp3.com and legitimize it. Allofmp3.com has one feature that's really nice - you pay based on the size of what you download, which really means that you pay for the quality that you need/want.
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|Why not shut down the whole of Russia while you're at it.
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|maybe we should down the US by click one button. I believe in this case life become easier for all people throughout the world !!!
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|couldn't get on the site when i tried at 946am 5-22-07
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|Both the site and the "AllTunes" application are non-functional at the moment. (10:15 am CST)
It could simply be due to increased traffic generated by the latest press, but who knows.
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|No matter how screwed AOM is, it's still dramatic proof that people are willing to PAY for DRM-FREE files. Think about the risk people are taking to pay these guys... send your credit card info to people who many consider to be Russian mob, just to pay for music?
Forgive me if I seem incredulous, but this is a clear point to me that people ARE willing to pay if given the option to be trusted with what they buy. If there's anyone to blame here, it's that there's no USA equivalent where people can do business with more consumer protection.
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|Incredulous? You mean ridiculous? Even if something like that was to happen, and that's a big if, then all you would need to do is dispute the charge with your bank. Problem solved.
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|What he's saying is that it's amazing people would go to these lengths to get DRM-free stuff. Instead of implementing a DRM-free offering locally (the US or the UK), they instead shut it down -- mostly b/c it's a great freaking idea.
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|Down with AllofMP3!
Only the RIAA should be able to rip people off!
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|Visa provides service more then just the USA. The fact Russia does not wish/want to meet a multiple requirments to join the international group that decides if the website can even sell the material on behalf of the owners of the material they sell thats an issue for Russian goverment to solve.
Till they have permission to sell the material, the fact they sell and are unable to take various payments ( let alone secure ) says alot about the operation.
Let alone who outside of Russia would give a website ran within Russia their credit card. Where clearly miss use of secure types of payments is basicly supported by the goverment.
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|The article is wrong. AllofMP3 is of course not blocked in Germany.
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|It is still possible to pay for your subscription via pretty much any credit card via xrost.
They didn't shutdown payments from outside Russia. They made it a touch more difficult, that is all.
"Despite false claims by the site that it pays record companies and artists, it has no permission from record companies to sell downloads in the UK and has been illegally undercutting legitimate services such as iTunes, Napster 2.0 and HMV Digital by not compensating the artists and record companies concerned,"
This is because the IFPI and UK are refusing to work with the Russian licensing agency, which, under Russian copyright law, is operating legally.
"Allofmp3.com is an illegal download service and the decision by major credit cards and payment services no longer to support it amply demonstrates that fact,"
Okay? So now we're using credit card based in another country to determine what is legal and what is not in OTHER countries? Since when did Visa become the defacto planetary government?
Anyone else see a problem with that?
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|I guess they've lost 1.65 trillion in sales because of the site, yep. Totally justified. Absolutely. More than Microsoft is probably worth. I totally bet they lost that much because of them.
Can anyone sense the sarcasm?
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|your money (paypal & credit cards) have a will now. i like the old fasion money myself.
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|Me too. But we all knew big brother would be watching in the end...
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|Only 1.65 trillion?
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|It's legal in Russia; illegal pretty much everywhere else. As soon as they realise this the sooner they won't get sued.
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|Cue a load of rants about DRM and how pirates want music for free...
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|Quiet on the set, please!!!!!!
AANNNNDDDDD ACTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You ***** ** ****! Ahh, your mother!!
Neocons are the devil! Liberals are ruining society!
Blah, blah...yaddah, yaddah....sis boom ba!!!
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|I'd rant about it... but then again, I already said I'd buy from services that offer DRM free music such as Amazon's. I just want the hassle free life I used to have. Those were the days.
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