Ben Reid
27 May 2006 10:48
Popular Russian online music download service AllofMP3.com has been judged as illegal by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), and prosecutions are reported to be underway. The Moscow-based service, whose market share at 14% comes second only to iTunes in the UK, has been accused of not paying royalties to artists.
The prices charged by AllofMp3.com are a lot cheaper than that of other online music services such as iTunes, which has made it a hit with consumers. A typical album download from the iTunes Music Store can cost as much as £9.79 in the UK (almost $18.20), or typically around £0.75 (about $1.40) from AllofMP3, which prices its downloads by file size.
The site, run by MediaServices Inc., claims that it is completely legal in Russia because the music it distributes is licensed by the Russian Multimedia and Internet Society (ROMS) and the Rightholders Federation for Collective Copyright Management of Works Used Interactively (FAIR). MediaServices states that it pays licence fees "subject to the Law of the Russian Federation," and whether or not it is legal in other countries depends on local copyright laws.
"AllofMP3.com is not a legal service either in Russia or anywhere else," told Lauri Rechardt, head of litigation at IFPI, in an interview with OUT-LAW today. "Unlike all the legitimate sites, it does not pay artists or copyright holders so it is effectively stealing from those who create music.. 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 added, "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."
Legal action against the site has already begun. There are two separate criminal proceedings ongoing in Russia. Moscows' public prosecutor is taking a former director of MediaServices to trial. And according to the IFPI, a second case against a current director of MediaServices is in the investigation phase.
Source:
p2pnet