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."

Comments

The RIAA wins then...

[BecomingLumberg]

I guess the RIAA wins... I'll just have to go back to BitTorrent...

Re:The RIAA wins then...

[NetDanzr]

Actually, that's exactly what I was recommending to my friends to whom I previously recommended Allofmp3. I don't have the time and energy to keep troubleshooting their problems with music file formats from various legit stores that don't play on their mp3 players, and Allofmp3 was the only significant source of regular mp3 files that worked; now it's back to music piracy again...

Re:The RIAA wins then...

[davester666]

AllOfMP3 was piracy, you were just paying for it. Just because it dressed itself up in a professional website and pretended to be something else doesn't change that.

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.

actionable?

[sammy baby]

Okay, first, IANAL. But I know that in the US, harassment of a company's business partners can be considered actionable under RICO. Anyone know if AllOfMP3 may be able to bring a suit against IFPI?

my attorney in the UK ?

[Anonymous Coward]

since when has anybody in the UK called a solicitor or lawyer/barrister an "attorney"
that word is used almost exclusivly by Americans, was this reseller an American in the UK or was the "quote" edited for a US audience

smells like bullshit here in London

Re:my attorney in the UK ?

[morgan_greywolf]

Mod parent up! UK people rarely use the term 'attorney'. They are 'solicitors' or 'barristers' or even (less often) 'lawyers.'

The whole story seems like astroturfing designed to scare the bejesus out of the remaining resellers.

Legal system problem

[MobyDisk]

This quote has the essence of the biggest problem in the 20th century, boiled down to one simple sentence:

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.' I would paraphrase that to:

Although what I am doing is legal, I dare not engage the legal system Which makes justice impossible. No justice, kiss freedom goodbye.

Re:Legal system problem

[haggisbrain]

Which makes justice impossible.

Almost there.

Which makes justice impossible. for those who aren't wealthy .

sigh

[wizardforce]

the selling of gift certificates isnt illegal but the use of them is frowned upon and thus anyone selling them is brought into the whole mess. The RIAA and company represent a group of interests that foolishly cut off any legal way to try out music or be locked in with DRM. that is why they lose cash, you cant screw people like that and expect to make MORE cash forever. if they were smart they would realize that they'd make more money by giving people the legal freedom to listen to music more freely than current and piracy would probably decrease as well- why pirate what is easy and cheap to begin with?

Ironic

[caseih]

The RIAA is trying to stop allofmp3.com (operating under certain Russian copyright licensing laws) for doing the exact same thing that they are pushing to be allowed to do right here in the US. The RIAA wants to collect fees (sell if you will) for music played on radio stations (regular radio stations) regardless of whether or not the music is actually copyrighted by any of their members. This means that if a public radio station plays a few RIAA songs, but the majority are indie labels or any music not owned by the RIAA members, the RIAA gets a cut as if it was.

One can certainly argue against the moral rightness of the way the Russian copyright licensing laws work, since no American artist will ever see any of the fees that the Russian copyright organization collects. But certainly the RIAA is clearly acting morally wrong as well.

Re:Ironic

[shark72]

"Actually, any artist can collect fees from Russian music collecting agency. And Russian collecting agency is also a non-profit organization."

Okay, pretend you're a moderately successful artist. You sold 1,000 copies of your album on iTunes last month for which you netted about $1K. You suspect that allofmp3 also sold about 1,000 copies of your album last month (you have no way of knowing... artists have asked allofmp3 to release sales data, but they refuse). They sold them for $0.60 each, to which the collecting society perhaps got about $0.06, of which you might see $0.04. So, somewhere out there, somebody has $40.00 for you.

After finding ROMS' site and the English version thereof, you get to this page before you hit a wall. If says that if you had "concluded an agreement" with ROMS (which you most likely have not), you are entitled to compensation, but ROMS does not tell you how you can go about this. You might note that by comparison, the corresponding page on ASCAP is much more useful. This is because ASCAP is run by and for artists, and is looking out for your best interests. Unlike ROMS, they're not a front for a pirate site.

At what point do you give up, and admit that the Russians effectively get to keep your $40?

Re:Ironic

[Cyberax]

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.

Re:Shhhh

[Anonymous Coward]

And we ALL know the RIAA supports full compensation for artists as well. Oh, wait.

Re:"The music industry seems determined to choke o

[zappepcs]

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.