AllofMP3 Legal Clarification

Here is an article on the BBC News website about this site

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/5051826.stm

If the record companies want it stopped then they should go after allofmp3.com as others have said it is a very professional site, with what looks like legal back up, and it says very clearly its legal.
It would seem rather harsh to go after a consumer who is paying for their downloads in good faith (Ok its very cheap)
I just did a search for downloads on google, how many of the results are for legal sites one was a peer to peer site and claimed it was legal.
How are we supposed to know whats right??

The record/film industry always like to compare this to other types of theft, so is it similar to conterfeit goods. If I bought a cheap shirt from a market and thought it was legite its the market trader thats ripping me off.


Remember the good old days -HOME TAPING IS KILLING MUSIC- funny that, they all seem to be doing very nicely still and isn't the music better than it was back in the 80's??

DesperateDave wrote:

I'm guessing that it doesnt have to be heard in Russia, it could be declared Illegal here in a UK court and they could be banned from selling to the uk.

The problem is with jurisdiction. I'm not sure if UK consumers purchasing a service abroad would give any court in the UK sufficient grounds to hear any case. I suppose they could find someone that has purchased an item off allofmp3.com and attempt to sue them though.

JasonLVC wrote:

The BPI could ask you to stop using the service but again, they'd have little effective powers at a local level. I can buy music from the states, cameras from Japan and cars from European dealerships - at diferent prices and different levels of after sales care - all have failed in the past to stop what is ultimately protectionism or competition.

Good point. They could ask people to stop. They could educate people as to why that site is "illegal" and justify why people ought to pay considerably more. By that's not their way - their way is to attempt to scare and bully people into giving them money, not through reasoned argument.

Dead_Eye_Jones wrote:

well of course its illegal, er.. common sense alert!

If nothing else its morally wrong, tbh I think money saving is great but you gotta draw a line at stealing surely??! .

But hey, thats OK, at least you are saving some £££s. I know, why doesnt he just come round your place and nick the food off ya shelves. Afterall, he would save himself money....

So sad, all people care about is themselves and how much money they can save without a second thought for the consequences. Yes my brother does depend on royalties, can he afford to lose income - hell no, he has barely two beans to rub together. Im sure this post will be followed by plenty of post rationalisation by people who cant face up to the truth, thing is, we all know its illegal, we all know its morally wrong, we all know if it was our product being ripped off we'd be furious. Yet people will still come to its defence.

The only people who think it illegal are the music industry and those within it. As I understand it, copyright law (or aspects of it), is not recognised in parts of Russia and the Russian judiciary have considered the site to be legal. Now, whether the music industry agrees is another thing!.

It's a legal grey area for sure, but the world is full of loop-holes, that how murderers get off and solicitors earn their living. Doesn't make it illegal.

Of course, the BPI & co would rather prosecute some students 'buying' music from this site or peddle rumour about morality then actually fight the Russians. But morality and music don't go together. The music industry loves to play hard. Rap music with controversial, police baiting lyrics and profanity (that's ok), making drugs cool and shooting up in public (that's okay too), charging 80p for a download in the UK when it is 50c in the states (that's okay), suing apple or anyone else who has an apple / apple tree/apple logo! (that's okay). But god forbid, some enterprising person sets out to exploit a legal loop-hole and all hells breaks loose.

You talk about people out for themselves. Well, spare a thought for the farmer who gets paid a few pence for a pint of milk so that Asda can sell it at a profit. Those bogof's you see in tescos are 100% funded by the supplier, not tesco - yet where do you think the profit goes?. Banks charging you £30 for overdrawing by 1p and lending unemployed folk huge sums of cash at 50% interest rates. To take the moral high ground would mean not shopping at a supermarket, using a bank or even using this web-site as a fair lump of the stuff on here is about mis-prices, badly thought out marketing offers, etc. That's why we have a forum called grabbit quick!.

What I'm getting at here is that the music indutry is far from special and just as corporately derelict as all the other corporations out there. I have zero sympathy for the music industry. I understand your brother's plight, but he's no different to other people getting ripped off. Why should I pay £100 more for car insurance because someone else choose not to?. Your brother is merely a victim of the music industry.

I'll end on one last thought. Both in the USA and UK, corporations make great use of illegal immigrants (cleaners, catering, etc). It's because they are cheap. Your lettuce in Sainsburys was likely picked by a Romanian under the eye of a Gangmaster for about 50p per hour. But it's illegal and yet morally okay if it increases profits, and keeps the cost of our dinner down. The Home Office, hotels, car makers and farming on both sides of the Atlantic all accept low-paid illegals, knowing the risk is low and the return is high - I'm not defending allofmp3, just that it ain't illegal yet so no-one can take the moral high ground on this.