RSSAllofMP3 Shuts Down, Resurfaces as 'MP3Sparks'
By Nate Mook | Published July 3, 2007, 4:48 PM
Russian authorities last week put the final nail in the coffin of AllofMP3.com, the thorn in the side of United States and UK music industry groups that have attempted to shut it down for years. But the service quickly resurfaced under the name MP3Sparks.com, with the ability to take credit cards once again.
AllofMP3 was controversial because it sold unprotected (DRM-free) songs for pennies, far cheaper than services like iTunes or Napster. Record labels claimed the site had no licenses, nor paid royalties to artists. AllofMP3 parent company, Mediaservices, claimed 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.
Although it remained active in the face of heavy international pressure, AllofMP3 was 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 was specifically asked to shut down the site if it wishes to join the World Trade Organization. It agreed last October, but set no specific timeframe.
The site finally going offline is not much of a surprise, however; payment companies including Visa, MasterCard and PayPal had already ceased doing business with Mediaservices - severely impacting its ability to operate. What is surprising is that Mediaservices has simply launched a new site, MP3Sparks, that is practically identical to AllofMP3. And now, credit card payments are being accepted.
The MP3Sparks Web site includes the same information, songs for sale, and explanations for why it is legal. "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 reads.
It's not clear how the music industry will respond to the latest maneuver by Mediaservices, but it surely won't be happy. The RIAA in the United States and IFPI, a group representing the recording industry internationally, have pushed hard to stop its actions. Although most of its customers were Russian, AllofMP3 was believed to be the biggest music service behind iTunes in Britain.
Whats saddest about this, is that Russia is so concerned with joining the WTO that they have to oblige. These sites need to find a country that could give less than a s*** about the WTO. Once they do, what's the US gonna do? Go to war?
wow....... don't tell Bush
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They can't be too legal as they already got shut down or so it seems. It looks like the RIAA is the one calling the shots in Russia.
If only we would have had the RIAA and WTO instead of the UN around in 1945 we would have never had the Cold War.
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Damn, they closed MP3sparks already?...lol.
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The Russian version of Copyright, which maintains that the people should determine the prices by what they are willing to pay and that artists, organizations, and labels should not be allowed to artificially raise the prices or restrict the content is, IMO, probably one of the best forms of Copyright in the world.
Groups like the RIAA, MPAA or IFPI could not restrict content, raise prices, or otherwise dictate what the market pays.
Russian copyright takes control of the market away from corporate interests and places it firmly in the hands of the market itself (retailers and consumers), where it belongs.
The US, EC, and others would do well to recognize how much control organizations like the RIAA have and how much abuse of the market (consumers and retailers) it allows. This kind of behavior and control of market forces was *never* the intent of copyright. They need to put control of the market back into the hands of consumers and retailers and put an end to this perversion of copyright.
No corporation or private entity should be allowed this much control of policy, market and rights.
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this sucks... they took em BOTH offline
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There will always be alternatives, even if Mp3Sparks closes down too: there is a huge list of sites similar to AllOfMP3 at www.songboom.com that explains the differences between them all with a side-by-side comparison. MP3Sparks has been around for several months, too - despite the report from news sources that it just "appeared".
There is also an inaccuracy in this report: AllOfMP3 was never blocked in Germany; the only legal case against AllOfMP3 in Germany that actually went through was related to a site being forced to remove a link to AllOfMP3 - there was never any decision to "block" anything.
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It's only a matter of time before services like MP3RaiD goes offline. A service that not only is known for mp3 files, but apparently has taken own the process of agreesive spyware.
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mp3sparks.com, it's not responding!!!
What is the POWER of the USA!!!
The EMPIRE!
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What the f--k are you talking about?
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Hmmm, I can't access mp3sparks.com, it's not responding.
On the other hand, AllTunes still seems to be working perfectly fine!
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Webs from Ukrain were shut down and now ALL from Russia. The USA is the WORLD POWER, controls everybody and everything
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jcorque
"AllofMP3 offered to pay royalties direct to the RIAA but they turned down the offer"
Not true. What they did offer was a TINY amount of what they are SUPPOSED to pay.
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Yea, well, they want trillion.
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Much like Dr. Evil, but without the 'giant frickin' laser'.
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Not true. AllofMP3 was supposed to pay 15% in royalties to ROMS which in turn gives that money to the RIAA. AllofMP3 obeyed all laws and is 100% legal.
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AllofMP3 is not supposed to pay anything to the RIAA. The RIAA is an American organization.
AllofMP3 pays 15% of all sales to ROMS the Russian equivalent of the RIAA, which under Russian law makes AllofMP3 100% legal.
ROMS then pays the artist (or organization that manages their contracts)...if the artist or organization is willing to accept payment.
This is how copyright is managed in Russia. ROMS determines the percentage. Not the artist, not the labels. It was designed this way so that artists make their money based solely on what the market is willing to pay, not on what they *believe* they should make.
In this manner, no artist, label, or "Musician's Rights Organization" could ever possibly hope to retain outdated business models, artificially raise prices, or otherwise influence the market.
IMO, it is a *far* better situation than we currently have in the US and many other places.
The people determine the prices, by what they are willing to pay.
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"
IMO, it is a *far* better situation than we currently have in the US and many other places."
agreed, if only mother russia won the cold war. lol
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That particular version of copyright didn't pop up until well after the cold war.
ROMS was created in 2000.
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Does anyone truly know if royalties are getting paid or is it just propaganda by the RIAA and Music Industry because of the low prices for downloading music? I've used the service for years and find the quality to be just as good as ITunes and Sony Connect. I remember readng where AllofMP3 offered to pay royalties direct to the RIAA but they turned down the offer. You have to wonder who is on the up and up!
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To be honest it is easy to set up a massive server, rip cd's with the quality setting high, and offer them for sale. I am afraid it is a problem that will always haunt the music industry. Their lawyer strong arm tactics in the States has given the RIAA a really bad name and created little simpathy.
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smarterthanyout
If you really think it was legal you either plain stupid or simply did not do enough reading into this. ALL music sold on allofmp3 was pirated, ZERO royalties were paid to actual artists. What's legal about it then? Low prices?
I hope they'll close the reincarnation too.
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"ZERO royalties were paid to actual artists"
No, just not enough for the RIAAs liking.
They were paying money to ROMS which makes them legal in Russia.
End of.
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You're nuts to think that $1 over per song is 'legal." That is STEALING through a MONOPOLY.
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There was a truly legal case going on against them, why USE Putin? I'll tell you why: Because the US music industry was going to lose like they have lost before.
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Diamond,
Under Russian Copyright law, any business is allowed to legally sell music so long as thy pay 15% of each sale to the Russian Copyright authority (ROMS). Thus, for them, it was 100% legal.
They did go to court in Russia a few years back. The question revolved around the fact that in the ROMS license, no mention was made, no specific wording revolved around digital distribution. The case was thrown out.
Since it is, atm, legal to import music purchased outside of most countries into those countries, it is also therefore legal in most countries to buy from AllofMP3/MP3Sparks.
ZERO royalties were paid to actual artists
This is more the RIAA's fault than ROMS or AllofMP3s. Royalties *have* been offered to the RIAA from ROMS, but RIAA has refused to collect.
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Good. The recording industry is just plain stupid for shutting down a perfectly legal music service.
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*laughs*
Anyone remember the game "Whack-A-Mole"?
Apparently it's a favorite among the Music Industry as they seem to have brought it to a whole new level.
Nice redesign on MP3Sparks. The change of color is nice. Anyone know for sure if it's *just* MediaServices running this site and that the RIAA/IFPI is't pulling the strings now?
Think I'll hold off on making any purchases for a while...
It was stated on Ars that the usernames and password were carried over, however, mine doesn't work any longer (even though, upon requesting they resend the password, they did...it just doesn't work).
Strange...
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Try NOT to cut & paste it-- sometimes an inadvertent extra space messes things up.
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my account and my account balance show up on the mp3sparks.com
What i typically do is get my music from there to keep and listen to. If i like the album, then i'll rebuy it from walmart.com and just not actually download their crap DRM'ed files. That way i get the mp3 format i want and i still am legal because i paid for it (both .10 to russia, and .88 to walmart).
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Tried it several times, several different ways.
Like I said though, I think I'll wait a week or two. Didn't have a balance of more than 2 cents on there anyway.
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MP3Sparks site is still down...
Anyone knows something about it?
Tnk's
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It's another fine example of the RIAA and their associates around the world bullying everyone else in the playground and throwing their toys out of the pram when they don't get what they want.
Is it any surprise that people will source cheaper ways of listening to music when they've been overcharged for so long and it's still going on. In the last five years concert ticket prices have grown by 61 percent, while the Consumer Price Index (the measure of the price of all consumer goods) increased by just 13 percent. Further, the cost of concert tickets now outpaces the other entertainment sectors, movies, sporting events, theater, by about 30 percent.
And it's not just ticket prices. In a message on Nine Inch Nails' website Trent Reznor criticised his label, UMG, saying that their main motivation was to "screw the consumer."
He said: "As the climate grows more and more desperate for record labels, their answer to their mostly self-inflicted wounds seems to be to screw the consumer over even more. A couple of examples that quickly come to mind."
Reznor used the retail price of his album in Australia as an example of his frustrations: "The Absurd retail pricing of Year Zero in Australia. Shame on you, UMG. Year Zero is selling for $34.99 Australian dollars ($29.10 US). No wonder people steal music. Avril Lavigne's record in the same store was $21.99 ($18.21 US)."
He continued: "By the way, when I asked a label rep about this his response was: ‘It's because we know you have a real core audience that will pay whatever it costs when you put something out - you know, true fans. It's the pop stuff we have to discount to get people to buy.’ So... I guess as a reward for being a "true fan" you get ripped off."
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He continued: "By the way, when I asked a label rep about this his response was: ‘It's because we know you have a real core audience that will pay whatever it costs when you put something out - you know, true fans. It's the pop stuff we have to discount to get people to buy.’ So... I guess as a reward for being a "true fan" you get ripped off."
Not to burst your bubble, but that's actually simple economics. I thought Trent was smarter than that. If the customer will pay more, it's sheer idiocy to charge less, from a business perspective.
Now, that in mind, Art really isn't (or shouldn't be) a business, or at the very least, should not follow the same "supply vs. demand" rules. They shouldn't be applying those econ. principles to art, and they should *definitely* consult the content creator before pulling something like that.
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Hi all! I have a question for whoever can answer it. I've been trying to research the Russian license that everyone is talking about. I would like to use a mp3 site like the ones that have previously been talked about, such as mp3fiesta.com ... But I need to know if an American can be sued by the RIAA if using a Russian mp3 site, or any other foreign site, even if it is legal in Russia. I wouldn't want to pay money to a Russian website, and in turn still get sued by American authorities. I'd appreciate any help anyone can give. Thanks!
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