Guardian
All over for AllOfMP3
Katie Allen, media business correspondent
Tuesday July 3, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
The music industry tonight welcomed reports that the Russian download site AllOfMP3.com has been shut down by the Kremlin after years of protests by artists and labels that it was selling illegal copies of their tracks.
Once said to be the UK's second most popular digital music site after Apple's iTunes, AllOfMP3.com went offline after tensions between America and Russia over the latter's efforts to combat piracy.
The site had presented itself as a legitimate music store, claiming it paid record companies and artists. But the music industry disputed that and accused it of undercutting legitimate services such as iTunes and Napster 2.0 by not compensating artists and record companies.
John Kennedy, head of international music industry association IFPI, said AllOfMP3.com violated Russian and international copyright law "by ripping off artists, taking music that it had no right to reproduce and selling it worldwide".
He said: "The apparent closure of AllOfMP3.com is a positive move which recognises that the site is illegal — but this is by no means the end of the story. Russia remains a huge source of internet piracy. We would now like to see decisive action taken against similar copyright-infringing sites to show that the Russian authorities are indeed seriously committed to enforcing intellectual property rights."
IFPI's latest piracy report listed Russia as one of 10 "priority countries". The group has backed a legal campaign against AllOfMP3.com that included a criminal trial of one of the site's former directors and high court proceedings in Germany and Britain.
Still, it appears that an alternative site run by AllOfMP3.com's owners has already sprung up. MP3Sparks.com claims on its website that it is legal under Russian law. Geoff Taylor, head of UK music industry lobby group BPI, said it would continue to take action against sites selling "stolen" music: "We appeal to UK music fans to stay away from these illegal Russian sites, which are unlicensed parasites that make no investment in music and do not pay royalties to the artists concerned."
Lawyers flagged up the holes in the service's arguments.
Cliff Fluet at law firm Lewis Silkin said AllOfMP3.com relied on its service being legal in Russia and only aimed at Russians.
"However, the dedicated pop charts of international companies, prices in US dollars and functionality that allowed UK users to send payment via a handy shortcode laid waste to this argument," he said.
"AllOfMP3 became a worldwide hot potato and soon made its way to trade negotiators whom are understood to have cited AllOfMP3.com as a major barrier to Russia joining the World Trade Organisation."
― Bee OK, Thursday, 5 July 2007 00:16 (eighteen years ago)
second behind iTunes. did anyone use this site? i never even have looked at it. also found this about the new site:
However, MP3Sparks is not accepting credit card orders from the US. I was able to register just now, but when I tried to add music-buying money to my account, I received the following message:
"Unfortunately credit card payment is not available at the moment. Please come back later or try another method of payment"
― Bee OK, Thursday, 5 July 2007 00:24 (eighteen years ago)
I know a lot of people that used it.
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Thursday, 5 July 2007 00:31 (eighteen years ago)
never heard of it
― Mr. Snrub, Thursday, 5 July 2007 03:20 (eighteen years ago)
"parasites that make no investment in music"
sounds familiar mr bpi.
― Frogman Henry, Thursday, 5 July 2007 03:41 (eighteen years ago)
sorry that's not fair: he's making a reasonable distinction between unlicensed parasites and licensed parasites.
― Frogman Henry, Thursday, 5 July 2007 03:47 (eighteen years ago)
"a major barrier to Russia joining the World Trade Organisation."
You know, I don't like something that's supposed to be a global organisation being used in this way. (anti-US rant omitted)
― StanM, Thursday, 5 July 2007 06:51 (eighteen years ago)
I never understood why anyone bothered using this site - you might as well just fileshare.
― Hurting 2, Thursday, 5 July 2007 07:34 (eighteen years ago)
Friends that swore by it tell me that they had some obscuro stuff that hadn't been licensed for iTunes and was pretty impossible to find on 50ul533k etc
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Thursday, 5 July 2007 07:36 (eighteen years ago)
I only bought a few things, but it was great. You could choose the compression rate - you could get wavs or 320kbps or 128 if you wanted. Erm. The selection was actually quite mainstream, but it was a better service than any of the legal ones and a lot less of a pain than slsk or whathaveyou.
I thought they actually were paying royalties, but at Russian prices ie it was a grey market thing like Tesco selling Polish Levis. It sounds like that was a bluff, though, and the stuff was straight stolen.
Since Moscow is now the most expensive place on earth or whatever, it doesn't seem credible that music would be so cheap there legally, anyway.
― Jamie T Smith, Thursday, 5 July 2007 10:48 (eighteen years ago)
Network Error (dns_unresolved_hostname)
Your requested host "www.mp3sparks.com" could not be resolved by DNS.
Hmm.
― Mark G, Thursday, 5 July 2007 10:50 (eighteen years ago)
It was a great, reliable -- and malware-free -- resource between the death of Napster and the rise of torrent sites. Not surprised to learn that their claims of royalty payments were bullshit, though.
― The Deacon, Thursday, 5 July 2007 14:10 (eighteen years ago)
That mp3sparks one was still on yesterday. The Travelling Wilbs set (for instance) was £3.60 (or dollars, whatever)
― Mark G, Thursday, 5 July 2007 14:19 (eighteen years ago)
The fact that Moscow prices for most physical goods and services should have no bearing on your judgment on whether mp3 prices are "credible" or not. In fact, they were fairly reasonable in all senses of the word, IMO.
― mitya, Thursday, 5 July 2007 15:16 (eighteen years ago)
It was great in 2004-2005, before the whole R@pidsh4re thing really took wing (and before Allof stopped reliably taking Paypal). Their prog selection was way way deep. I doubt I'd ever have heard a Peter Hammill solo album without those lil' sturgeon roe smugglers.
― Jon Lewis, Thursday, 5 July 2007 16:32 (eighteen years ago)
Not surprised to learn that their claims of royalty payments were bullshit, though.
― Bill in Chicago, Thursday, 5 July 2007 18:12 (eighteen years ago)
Their real profits came from selling credit card numbers they collected.
― libcrypt, Saturday, 7 July 2007 03:32 (eighteen years ago)
I mean, c'mon. If you trust some shady Russian MP3 site with yr CC #, you aren't so smart.
― libcrypt, Saturday, 7 July 2007 03:33 (eighteen years ago)
Well, that's the major reason why I never went for it, I have to say.
― Mark G, Monday, 9 July 2007 10:18 (eighteen years ago)
Any proof that Allofmp3 did sell on the CC numbers? I never used it but I was tempted.
― NI, Monday, 9 July 2007 11:58 (eighteen years ago)
I always thought this was just a way for some Russians to steal credit card numbers.
― dean ge, Monday, 9 July 2007 12:59 (eighteen years ago)
the risk element was a big part of the appeal.
― blueski, Monday, 9 July 2007 23:27 (eighteen years ago)
Just like sex with homeless men.
― Jon Lewis, Monday, 9 July 2007 23:28 (eighteen years ago)
Yeah, I haven't been able to access mp3sparks in the past few days either.
― musically, Monday, 9 July 2007 23:32 (eighteen years ago)
har har har.
http://www.zeropaid.com/news/8908/Russian+Court+to+VISA:+'Must+Process+Payments+to+Allofmp3.com'
― StanM, Tuesday, 17 July 2007 11:00 (eighteen years ago)