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AllofMP3 Voucher Resellers Quit After Police Raid
Broohaha writes "Europeans who resell AllofMP3.com vouchers are quitting the business after a UK raid against one prominent reseller there. An Ars Technica article talks to several of them about their situations. 'Until a few days ago, I had never heard of the IFPI [the international music trade group],' said one reseller. 'But yes, I am concerned about them now. Although my attorney assures me that reselling gift certificates bought from AllOfMP3.com isn't breaking any laws, it isn't worth the possibility of engagement with their legal machine.' The music industry seems determined to choke off AllofMP3's funding, no matter how small the source."
The whole story seems like astroturfing designed to scare the bejesus out of the remaining resellers.
Whatever works. They don't care. It is clearly up the us to be more careful how we spend our money. To keep it our of their hands, don't buy their product. Lot's of talk about boycotts and stuff, but a closely related industry is making more money than they ever have (plugging journal). So I would see no reason why they should change their behavior. It still pays off quite well. Just like with spammers. It is we who reward their actions. The simple fact is, you can't argue with success. Sorry.
What?
AllofMP3 was operating on dark grey margins of legality, so it's not as if you are just now starting piracy, you were pretty much supporting such an operation. They stretch the loophole a lot. The licensing clause they are operating under was one that allows for radio over cable TV networks as a broadcast mechanism, not for the sales of music tracks.
mea culpa - I just read an article about NIN's Trent Reznor. http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,217 41980-5006024,00.html and he's pretty blunt about it. These people you reference ARE lowlifes, and this is coming from one of their clients.
Support NYCountryLawyer RIAA vs People
It's my understanding that AllOfMP3 is legally operating within Russia, that the various music associations have tried to get it shut down within Russia but have been unable to because it has been following the law, as it is written in Russia. It may or may not violate copyright and/or other laws for an individual to download from their site from where they happen to be located when downloading.
Also, it's my understanding that the major labels could be receiving their portion of money that AllOfMP3 collects by participating in Russia's licensing system. It could be that they have decided not to participate because the amount of money they would receive is less than what they would like, so they are instead trying to have the laws changed so that they can extract more money than what they would be paid under the current laws in Russia.
Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
Yes, ROMS's English site sucks.
I can read Russian, so I've read their contract: http://www.roms.ru/download/authors/1.doc It says that you can collect fees retroactively.
A typical CD costs about $5 in Russia (including licensed CDs from Western artists). Generally, CD contains about 10 songs, so it's 50 cents per song (notice, it's less expensive than AoMP3). One usually gets less than 10% from actual CD price, so artists in Russia can get more from ROMS than from actual CD sales.