View Full Version : Is it illegal to buy...
MP3s from Russian music websites. they are similar to itunes but the price per track can be a lot less. is it illegal to buy from these sites. i have heard mixed comments about this. i can make my mind up weather i should buy from these sites. (i dont have an ipod and don’t like Itunes until it removed DRM)
jamesp129
17-04-2007, 15:14
Cant see why its illegal,if your paying for the content.
SiLvEr_SnAkE
17-04-2007, 15:16
No, if you're talking about allofmp3 and similar then no.
I use allofmp3 all the time.
i was talking about that site. however i cant seem to buy credit. seems there payment system has been down for 4-5 days
SiLvEr_SnAkE
17-04-2007, 15:23
Yeh I just checked Wikipedia and it says "LATEST NEWS - allofmp3.com seems to no longer be a functioning site!"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AllOfMP3.com
I guess I'll have to use up my last $3 credit :p
SiLvEr_SnAkE
17-04-2007, 15:40
Alltunes is the system used to download thier songs, you can buy credit through alltunes or allofmp3 (at least you used to be able to).
alltunes dosnt work eaither anymore..
six5tring
17-04-2007, 23:57
Russian sites... interesting things... Russia does not have the same copywrite laws if I remember correctly. In fact not much is policed quite so heavily. AllofMp3 certain was an illegal site... and I'd guess that lots of them actually arn't legal.. just make you pay to feel better!
six
Right. Hmm i wonder how these sites run, and seem legit. they mention no where that your breakign teh law in your country. if the website is based in russa, doesn't that mean if is bound by there laws when i buy from them? or am i as a consumer responsible?
uuhh;401133']Right. Hmm i wonder how these sites run, and seem legit. they mention no where that your breakign teh law in your country. if the website is based in russa, doesn't that mean if is bound by there laws when i buy from them? or am i as a consumer responsible?
That's the real rub though isn't it - It's not illegal in Russia, so how can it be justified trying to close it down....
Ahh, the beauty of the internet!
It is considered illegal on the grounds that the artists aren't getting any share of the revenue, hence why they are so cheap. Most (if not all) of the Western World's payment systems will not process payments for AllOfMP3 any more. In fact, I seem to remember the site's continuing existance was stopping Russia from joining the World Trade Organisation (http://digitalmusic.weblogsinc.com/2006/05/12/allofmp3-beats-napster-in-uk-consumer-poll/).
Cheers,
Stephen
It is considered illegal on the grounds that the artists aren't getting any share of the revenue, hence why they are so cheap. Most (if not all) of the Western World's payment systems will not process payments for AllOfMP3 any more. In fact, I seem to remember the site's continuing existance was stopping Russia from joining the World Trade Organisation (http://digitalmusic.weblogsinc.com/2006/05/12/allofmp3-beats-napster-in-uk-consumer-poll/).
Cheers,
Stephen
Illegal in the US etc, but not Russia. Heavy handed globalization at work
Illegal in the US etc, but not Russia. Heavy handed globalization at work
Did you actually read Fat Jez's post though? It might well not be illegal in Russia but:
(i) the majority of artists, who are the real losers out of this, are not russian and should not be punished because of their unfair laws;
(ii) Many of the people using those sites are not russian, in which case it should still be illegal for such people to bypass laws within their own country (it doesn't work this way, but should)
I don't think this is globalization at its worst at all. As people have said on this forum for other products, such as MS Windows, ultimately the manufacturer/ owner should be entitled to receive payment for anything they make, and they can pretty much choose how much at the same time. This is a country abusing individual rights by not recognising laws for its own gain. I wonder how their stance would change if the shoe was on the other foot.
But are they selling them illegally? Arn't they just selling them at a cheaper price?
Price of software is different across many different countries, and even in New Zealand with it's massivly low piracy rate, software prices are very high.
But are they selling them illegally? Arn't they just selling them at a cheaper price?
Depends on how you define illegal, but given the artists aren't receiving any royalty payments for the music sold, that sounds a bit dodgy to me.
Cheers,
Stephen
Aerizan is right, for example here in the UK we pay mroe for a single on itunes than peopel in europe. and US. is that fairness?
And is it not time for iTunes to start charging less for downloads than I can buy a hardcopy CD for?
Whilst AllTunes may have been operating in a way which disadvantaged the monopoly of the US music industry it sent them a very strong message didn't it.
Don't for one minute it is the artists losing all the money, it is the record industry. And I feel absolutely no sympathy for them.
Erm... of course the artists are loosing money as well, the likes of Girls Aloud and other manufactured performers won't have been loosing a lot - because they won't have written and produced their work (They may have done, just using them as an example), the writers, producers etc. will all have been loosing out on royalty payments.
Erm... of course the artists are loosing money as well, the likes of Girls Aloud and other manufactured performers won't have been loosing a lot - because they won't have written and produced their work (They may have done, just using them as an example), the writers, producers etc. will all have been loosing out on royalty payments.
But as i said, and here (http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/music-royalties6.htm)illustrates, the vast majority (95% ish) of money from record sales goes to the record companies. IF they entered into the market fairly, instead of charging huge amounts for CDs then the pirate market would disappear. I don't want to see genuine artists disadvantaged, but I go some way to prevent the record companies fleecing consumers. And do Girls Aloud need more money, just for singing a few songs? I would have more sympathy if they weren't all moaning from their Bel Air pads...
I thought royaly payments only went to artists when they get airtime?
I'm sure most artists have different deals regardless with regards to how they get paid based upon sales - Either way it seems like another case of us getting ripped off :D
But as i said, and here (http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/music-royalties6.htm)illustrates, the vast majority (95% ish) of money from record sales goes to the record companies. IF they entered into the market fairly, instead of charging huge amounts for CDs then the pirate market would disappear. I don't want to see genuine artists disadvantaged, but I go some way to prevent the record companies fleecing consumers. And do Girls Aloud need more money, just for singing a few songs? I would have more sympathy if they weren't all moaning from their Bel Air pads...
I agree, even though CDs have been going down in price they are still, in general, too high in my view. Especially when you think about how much it costs to make one in caparison to what they are selling them for.
I agree, even though CDs have been going down in price they are still, in general, too high in my view. Especially when you think about how much it costs to make one in caparison to what they are selling them for.
Airtime and each record sold - on a sliding scale, the artist receives no royalty on a fixed 25%, to cover transport and packagin costs, whether that sale is online or in a shop. There are many other deductions before the artist receives their cut, but they as the source of the artistiv flair as as shafted as we, the consumer are.
There will be only one winner from any ruling such as this - The record company.
Regardless of what money comes out of it, it is still illegal to not pay the royalties - if there's no royalty payment made, then the artist will never get any money from it. Regardless of you agreeing with it or not, it's illegal.
Regardless of what money comes out of it, it is still illegal to not pay the royalties - if there's no royalty payment made, then the artist will never get any money from it. Regardless of you agreeing with it or not, it's illegal.
But that's were you are right and wrong.
It might be illegal in your country, but it is legal in Russia...
It might also be immoral in Russia, but that is a different side of the argument...
Perhaps if the record companies were realistic in their expectations and in their perception of its consumers and the community, then companies, such as allofMP3 could operate at a reduced price compared to iTunes, still pay a royalty but accepting educed margins. That my friend is Capitalism ;)
six5tring
19-04-2007, 23:34
Can I just put in my 2 pence... I think that the hardcopy price of music is fine. I think the download is a bit high. But i'm happy with paying £7 a cd. If you downloading a track then royalty and respects should be paid the the artist/record company and everyone else. The music industry is massive and fair enough some people have loadsa money. But if there was no money in the industry big labels could not afford to take on bands, merchendise them and see how they do. How much money gets lost my bands that don't make it I wonder?
six
Moldiver
20-04-2007, 00:07
Perfectly legal to downlolad from that site, just Russia have different laws, just like in Canada it is legal to download music from places like limewire and bit torrents sites but it is illegal to upload them.
jameson_uk
26-04-2007, 19:54
Interestingly was reading an article about UK copyright law (the misses is a copyright lawyer) and it is a civil offence for you to rip a CD without the consent of the copyright holder. This means the you can't get done by the police for it. If you distribute the material then this becomes a criminal case and hello BPI ....
(although using software to crack copy-protection on cds is criminal as it involves breaking encryption type stuff)
If it was legal to distribute material without the copyright owners consent in Russia, surely we would be all buying CDs from Russia as they could just copy CDs...
I am not sure of the law concerning being in possesion of copied copyright material but I would guess it would either be a civil offence or none at all. Therefore I would guess it would be just as legal to buy something from allofmp3 as it would to just download the same stuff from some P2P network.
Interestingly was reading an article about UK copyright law (the misses is a copyright lawyer) and it is a civil offence for you to rip a CD without the consent of the copyright holder. This means the you can't get done by the police for it. If you distribute the material then this becomes a criminal case and hello BPI ....
(although using software to crack copy-protection on cds is criminal as it involves breaking encryption type stuff)
If it was legal to distribute material without the copyright owners consent in Russia, surely we would be all buying CDs from Russia as they could just copy CDs...
I am not sure of the law concerning being in possesion of copied copyright material but I would guess it would either be a civil offence or none at all. Therefore I would guess it would be just as legal to buy something from allofmp3 as it would to just download the same stuff from some P2P network.
there are subtle diferances between buying CD's and gettign them importated and sold in the UK, than buying and downloading a song from russa, in legal terms at least.
If the new EU bill on copyright etc. passes, then it'll actually become a criminal offence to rip a CD without the copyright holders consent. There's an article on The Register about it.
holidayfriendsh
21-05-2007, 14:47
its not really illegal as its different between here and russian, russian have different laws and where for the sites arent doing anything illegal but if they was oparating in the uk/us then it would be
Perfectly legal to downlolad from that site, just Russia have different laws, just like in Canada it is legal to download music from places like limewire and bit torrents sites but it is illegal to upload them.
Russia is not the same as Canada at all; the latter apply a levy to blank media, so that royalties can be paid to the music industry.
http://neil.eton.ca/copylevy.shtml
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