p2pnet - rss feed: AllofMP3.com statement
p2p news / p2pnet: As we posted yesterday, quoting The New York Times, “American trade negotiators have, “darkly warned that the Web site could jeopardize Russia’s long-sought entry into the World Trade Organization.”
The members of the Big Four Organized Music cartel have been trying to wipe AllofMP3.com off the Net for some considerable time. It is, after all, competition.
For its part, AllofMP3.com hasn’t had a lot to say. Until now. In an email statement we received this morning, it declares:
The US government officials and politicians have been demanding lately that the Russian authorities shut down allofmp3.com, alleging the site is pirate. Otherwise, they threaten Russia with sanctions, including blocking its entry to WTO.
In this regard we would like to make a statement:
1. The site AllOfMP3.com belongs to a Russian company and for 6 years it has operated within the country, in full compliance with all Russian laws. Throughout this period the various government offices have scrutinized site’s legality and have not found any breach of the law. So far there has been no decision by any Russian court contesting the site’s legality.
2. The Russian site AllOfMP3.com is not operating or advertising its business on the territory of other countries.
3. The site AllOfMP3.com does regularly transfer substantial amounts of royalties to the Russian organizations for collective management of rights such as ROMS and FAIR, which have granted the site licenses to legally deliver music through the Internet.
4. The site AllofMP3.com reserves the right to take all steps necessary to protect its business reputation. We call upon everyone to take a thorough and unbiased view of the site’s legality.
5. On September 1, 2006 the changes to the Russian copyright legislation will come into force. Since January 2006 the site has been making direct agreements with rightholders and authors at the same time increasing the price of the music compositions and transferring the royalties directly to the artists and record companies. The aim of AllofMP3.com is to agree with all rightholders on the prices and royalties amounts by September 1, 2006.
6. We believe in the long term and civilized business based on respecting the law, considering the customers’ demands as well as the interests of both national and international rightholders.
The AllofMP3.com Administration
June 6, 2006 Moscow
Contact information: press@allofmp3.com
Available at http://allofmp3.com/statement.shtml
Definitely stay tuned.
Digg this story.
Also See:
darkly warned - US muscles AllofMP3.com, June 5, 2006
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June 7th, 2006 at 12:27 am
Ah my Russian friends, beware the RIAA and IFPI. They don’t care if you are legal or not. The are after control, not making sure you are legal. They will file lawsuit after lawsuit, forcing you to spend untold amounts of money to defend yourself, until you can’t operate any more. Its their Modus Operandi.
Even in the US where the RIAA (on behalf of its members) has sued, or threatened to sue, thousands of users, in order to intimidate private citizens to coughing up “protection money”
NOT ONE CENT THEY RECEIVE GOES TO THE ARTISTS THEY SAY THEY ARE PROTECTING, but into the kitty to file more lawsuits.
June 7th, 2006 at 1:19 am
what they say about sending money to the artists is true but…
I know that not one cent received in RIAA “settlement” money goes to the artists.
I’ll take a punt and do business with the Russians. At least they COULD be telling the truth.
June 7th, 2006 at 5:53 am
There’s one thing I’ve never heard said by the mainstream media that deserves to be said. Frankly, I’m a bit shocked at all the consternation leveled against AllOfMP3.com. Everything they are doing appears to be above board based on Russian law. If, as the music industry says, no money is making it to the artists, it isn’t AllOfMP3 that needs to be investigated and prosecuted, it’s ROMS and FAIR - the two licensing agencies set up by the Russian government to do this job.
Incidentally, President Putin made two statements on the same day. First, he made a strong statement regarding stepped-up enforcement of intellectual property rights. But shortly afterward, he made a second statement, indicating that he was considering “nationalizing” all foreign-owned banks. I think the message is clear that, right or wrong, Putin wants to deal with any intellectual property issue in his country as a RUSSIAN problem … and has a great disdain for meddling foreigners who attempt to dictate “policy” within Russian borders. Or to put it simply, Putin may have been delivering a message to those who intend to withhold membership in the WTO - “Go ahead, make my day.”
June 7th, 2006 at 10:35 am
CNNI teletext is reporting that the UK government is telling people thant andone in the UK who uses allofmp3 is “breaking the law”.
but i guess it’s ok for the UK to collude with the US on illegal flights of terror suspects to illegal “detention camps” (as stated on BBC news teletext).
June 7th, 2006 at 11:18 am
“3. The site AllOfMP3.com does regularly transfer substantial amounts of royalties to the Russian organizations for collective management of rights such as ROMS and FAIR, which have granted the site licenses to legally deliver music through the Internet.”
Ok, lets assume this is true, that AllOfMP3.com does hane licenses from the collectives. Ah, but colllectives all over the world have the habit of issuing “blind licenses” whereby the licensee has no idea what songs he pays for, which leads to the licensees using any song, licensed or illegally (which could be Russian), knowing that the collectives will not sue and that the songwriters of the illeglly used songs will never see a cent.
If AllOfMP3 is licensed by Russian collectives and the collectives of other countries have no jurisdiction within Russia, then AllOfMP3 cannot be sued (as a practical matter) in Russia for the use of say, American songs.
One of the things that is not made clear by AllOfMP3 is what must non Russians, say an American songwriter or other copyright holders do if they want to collect royalties for the sales made by AllOfMP3? Must these register the songs and/or the recordings with the Russian collectives? Is that meaningful if the Russian collectives also issue “blind licenses” and then divide the royalty money among the creators blindly (no one know how they do it) too, as is done by most if not all collectives outside Russia?
Is a pandora box being openned here?
Rafael Venegas
http://www.gvenegas.com
June 7th, 2006 at 11:35 am
“CNNI teletext is reporting that the UK government is telling people thant andone in the UK who uses allofmp3 is “breaking the law”.”
If the UK or any government tells the people they are breaking the law by bying from allofmp3, then the expectation is that people accept it by faith, as the gospel truth.
To begin with, what law?
And how is a person to know if the recording purchased from allofmp3 is a pirated one or a legitimate one because allofmp3 was licensed to sell?
Then is it ilegal to buy pirate recordings? Where I live selling pirated (fake) cds is illegal not the buying or possesing them. Otherwise buying fake watches sold in plain sight, in front of the courthouse, would be ilegal and everybody here would be a criminal.
Rafael Venegas
http://www.gvenegas.com
June 7th, 2006 at 1:51 pm
Exactly. One other thing. Russia is slowly becoming a major supplier of petroleum and natural gas to a number of countries who are already members of WTO. If they attempt to withhold Russia’s entrance into a “world trade” organization, Putin might say, “I guess you don’t want to trade with us then. OK. From now on, trade with OPEC.”
This trade brouhaha may end up being a blessing in disguise that would lead to a compromise. One possible compromise is a Russian guarantee that ROMS/FAIR will make an appropriate compensation to artists … in exchange for the music industry relinquishing the “control” over which artists can have their works sold and which can’t. This would be the best of all possible solutions - access to music without the music industry’s constraint of saying who plays and who doesn’t. It might cost a little bit more but would probably still cost less than iTunes.
June 7th, 2006 at 1:59 pm
Rafael,
As I said in my post above, the problem isn’t AllOfMP3.com. There are laws in Russia and they comply with those laws. If money isn’t getting to the artist, it’s the fault of ROMS and FAIR … and *they* should be investigated and perhaps prosecuted, not AllOfMP3. In short, the problem isn’t a site operator who’s paying what’s asked to a licensing agency (as the law requires), it’s the licensing agency itself.
If an auto dealer sells a car and sends the required portion to his district office to compensate the automaker - and if the automaker never sees a dime - should the automaker go after the dealer or the district office? Same principle, different continent.
June 8th, 2006 at 1:25 pm
We are in agreement 100 percent.
I never meant to suggest that AllOfMP3 is doing anything wrong.
I also did not mean to suggest that radio stations do anything wrong by accepting and working with the “blind licenses” scam, of which they are victims. I realize that as of now the radio stations live with the sam or get out of broadcasting music. The same applies to television stations. concer halls, restaurants and wherever music is publicly performed.The issuing of blind performance licenses is the fault of the collectives who issue them and others (for the USA) who ignore the problemn and see nothing wrong. I am talking about the best legislature money can buy, the Justice Department and the Copyright Office officers.
Rafael Venegas
http://www.gvenegas.com
September 28th, 2006 at 9:30 am
I also heartily recommend alofmp2 and lavamus.com. I’m not about to start buying copy-protected CDs or DRM-encumbered music.
As long as your country does not ban importing music