AllOfMP3 sued once again
Some companies still think they can do whatever they want just because they operate in the country of mighty George. Major record labels, including Arista Records, Warner Bros. Records, Capitol Records and UMG Recordings have launched a lawsuit against AllofMP3.com claiming that the Web site has been selling music in violation of copyright. The labels claim in the lawsuit that Russia-based Mediaservices, parent company of AllofMP3.com, profits off copyrighted music without paying any royalties to the holders. Instead of paying royalties to the record labels, Mediaservices shares a cut of its revenue with a Russian licensing group, which the company claims is in complete compliance with local laws. Too bad this company has nothing to do with US, they are purely Russian based, and completely legal in this country, so this can’t really endanger them…
AllofMP3 typically charges under $1 for an entire album and just cents per track. By contrast, an album at Apple Computer Inc.’s iTunes Music Store and other licensed services typically costs about $10 and a song 99 cents. Mediaservices has maintained that by paying royalties to a Russian licensing group, the Web site is in compliance with Russian laws. The music industry contends that the Russian licensing group doesn’t have the authority to collect and distribute royalties.
Comments(19)
I think before the RIAA opens up their mouth about royalties in any way, a judge should require them to show the accounting work for the past ten years showing all royalties collected and exactly how and who they were paid out to. This way they can make sure the RIAA actually has something to sue over. I highly doubt they would be able to produce those records showing that artists are getting their royalties and the cuts of all sales. Just waiting for a judge who isn’t in the pocket of the RIAA or MPAA.
do i detect a hint of double morality from releaselog here? riaa can of course go fuck themselves but so can allofmp3, and i see it as an act of treason from releaselog to go defend those russian scumbags. why? because they charge money for something that basically should be free. the money end up nowhere in the hands of those having worked hard and composed the music (that the greedy record labels get nothing is fine however). the money go straight into the pockets of other greedy people instead, namely the russians or whoever are behind the site. i’d compare it to money charging warez sites, it’s really that simple. i thought the whole ideology of releaselog was free warez for the people. allofmp3s is just another metaphore for a greedy record label, end of story.
bajs:
allofmp3 pays royalty’s to the ROMS. The Russian equivalent of the RIAA. Now, there is some dispute if the ROMS actually pays there royaltys.
But, this is a case where any stick is good enouf in trying to hit a dog. If there is a problem with the royalties, they need to sue the ROMS, not allofmp3. But then again, suing ROMS is not going to get rid of allofmp3.
Now, RIAA indeed is not one to talk. As for several examples in my own country, and neighboring country’s have show, those so called collection company’s end up taking most of the money, and filling there own pockets.
One case, a company did not pay out the money for over 5 years!! A other case, they used the funds to give CD producing company’s extra ( 20% ) discounts, if they joined a DRM syndicate. Some of accounting books show over 55% of the money going in there own pockets ( entire building for a handful of people. Very, VERY nice wages, company car’s etc. ). With only 45% going to the music company’s. And those again, take most of the money. With only a few % getting devided. And the list goes on…
This is nothing more then legalized mafia practices. So they are not one’s to talk.
anyone who thinks we’re in the right here is an idiot – we are thieves. you cant deny that. i dont believe anything should be free – cheaper maybe, but not free.
(Quote by paul)anyone who thinks we’re in the right here is an idiot – we are thieves. you cant deny that. i dont believe anything should be free – cheaper maybe, but not free.
Indeed…..
@paul
your reasoning is totally flawed. nothing should be free? all warez are, ideally, free. so you believe warez groups should charge money for their releases then? because that’s the people, if any, that deserves the money for the work the put into cracking a game, ripping a movie, or mp3-ing a cd. no, they are working hard so you, atleast in theory, can dl everything free. it’s all the third parties or middle men, like allofmp3 or pay sites, that has discovered there’s money to be had in this kind of “business”. of course we are all thieves, but they are much bigger ones.
no – i believe the product should be priced reasonably enough so that we dont have to steal it – thats the reason we do it right, coz downloading is cheaper than buying it? you’d rather pay the people who rip the stuff than buy it from the source?
@paul
no, i didnt say *i* would pay for it. i told you who deserverd the money instead of those ripping people off for something that’s supposed to be free.
and yeah, you got that right, of course we do this because it’s cheaper than buying. but you’re still missing the point. it’s supposed to be free, not having some third party take your money for something that’s initially free.
i dont even know what we’re arguing about, pal. i dont see where you’re coming from at all.
i just wanna know, you dont like the record companies, because they arent giving enough of their money to the artists or because you have to pay too much for a cd? and you dont like the russians coz they’re charging for offering what is essentially available for free on any torrent site? okay… so what are we arguing about?
well you said nothing should be free. but my point was, the idiology in the world of piracy is that everything should be exactly that. and allofmp3 is borderline piracy (how much do allofmp3 actually pay for the music they “sell”? probably close to nothing, maybe they buy some of their music one time only to rip it and some facade “royalties”).
There is always something to complain about.
Well, of course some things should be free. Like when you go to the library, you can borrow books, music, movies. Isn’t that free? And if you start to say that I only borrow stuff from the library, then I will say to you, I only borrow stuff off the net. I don’t have a collection of burnt DVD’s or anything. If I watch a pirated movie, and like it, I go and buy the original, watch it in the cinema or something alike.
As for the whole royalty thing… I believe there is some websites that try to collect money to pay the ARTISTS, so if you download art, you could consider paying the Artist the full amount, instead of paying everybody else.
Paul and teaser:
The music itself is not what i am paying for. i gladly give my money to the artist via concerts and merch. I just don’t think that the album itself is worth any money.
the same goes for a movie. I will gladly pay to go to a cinema and see something on that big ass screen with awesome sound for the whole EXPERIENCE of it. it is not the movie itself but the EXPERIENCE I am paying for. As for DVD:s (I have a lot of legally bought ones). I still say I am buying the stuff around the movie. I pay for a neat thing on my shelf with extras and commentary and nicely designed graphics adn prints. the movie itself is just the pitch – not the actual product.
That’s my point of view and i am sticking with it.
(btw, according to RIAA own material, available at their website, the total sum of all CD:s sold per year show a decrease from 1995 to 2005 with 1.5%. They are right, we are actually buying less amounts CD:s. The annual winnings for the industry however, has sky-rocketed with 15% since we are buying more merch than ever and the price for a CD has risen beyond the skies)
Numbers taken from:
http://www.riaa.com/news/marketingdata/facts.asp
Intelligent point of the day – “Never wipe your ass with wet tissue; for it only leaves the corn clogged up with little tissue balls”
is this a release log or an argument forum?
bajs – i totally agree with you.
paul – the problem is that it never gets cheaper. which means that..
bajs: “of course we are all thieves, but they are much bigger ones.”
Why do you talk about russian company, if you know that only USA companies have the right do everything, something, only this thing, and so on. And I wonder that you do not know that USA law is the only law in the world that matters.