Music downloads, how legal is legal enough?

jackbremer

I've asked people in the industry - it's maddening - the RIAA et al go on about how piracy is killing music etc, and I believe iPod tax runs at about £30 per iPod, which all goes to the RECORD LABELS - NOT THE ARTISTS.

These Russian sites do not give to the artist so we might as well just download the tracks for free.

Either buy songs from a reputable CD retailer, on CD, or download them for free and go to jail. If you download them from the likes of iTunes you will not be able to use the tracks on a replacement MP3 player, and if your harddrive crashes you've lost it all.

keep a CD collection and rip it to un-DRM-ed MP3 or OGG, or just download and face imprisonment.

buying from Russian sites @ 2p a song is a cop out - you'll spend money and still not be doing anyone a favour except the Russian mafia.

these days it's all about the LIVE MUSIC BABY - whatever you do about collecting music, put yer hand in yer pocket and go see your favourite band live - there's nothing quite like it.

shitworth

I'm with Jack on this one. The free passage of information that results from instant access-anytime-anywhere global communication inevitably spells the end for hopes of making any significant amount of money from selling recorded music. Of course, the record industry won't just roll over and die but with music files constantly being reripped, reformatted or even remixed, the ability to determine precisely what is and copyrighted and by whom will become increasingly difficult.

However, this will hardly be the death of music. The music industry will eventually evolve to deal with this, probably by seeing recordings as a means of promoting live shows rather than vice versa. Since this was the case for much of the early 20th Century and evidence of a return is already apparent (think how much money is made from Madonna's flamboyant, controversial and expensive live shows), the idea of records making anyone money will probably be looked at in the future as a brief blip in music history.

What such a scenario would mean for industries such as Hollywood, who rely entirely on selling copyable media, is less clear, though it is unlikely to be kind to their profit margins.

Donger20

I heard about this site some time ago, but stayed away, but then I read the following article on the BBC web site:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4875142.stm

"According to XTN Data, legal downloads are up by five per cent since last September.

The most popular legal download site is iTunes with 44% of the market. This is followed by Moscow-based AllOfMP3.com, which accounts for 14% of legal downloads, according to the report. "

So I thought I would try it out......
Still a bit hesitant to use it though considering the Russian connection and rumours that it is run by the mafia!

Donger

Quincy_3

Whatever folk decide legal or not legal I would like to see threads about the legalities of music downloading or grey ares to be left on the forums and not deleted, maybe censored so MSE doesnt get into trouble.

But leave the thread or some posts (however MSE do it) so that it isnt just a subject that is shoved under a rug and forgotten about or becomes a Taboo.

It needs to be spoken about so that people are educated and that may lead to a parent finding a thread about illegal downloads or grey areas and that may stop their sibling getting a hefty fine, now thats ultimate money saving.

P.S It says illegal topics are not allowed to be discussed, But why I mean what can be done to MSE if the topic is started by an unknown (poster). I just dont get it

cowbutt

jackbremer wrote:

buying from Russian sites @ 2p a song is a cop out - you'll spend money and still not be doing anyone a favour except the Russian mafia.

It's rather sweeping to assume that all Russian businesses (or even just allofmp3) are illegitimate and automatically in league with the infamous "Russian mafia", don't you think?

Also, disregarding the possibility that downloading from sites like allofmp3 may offer a legal defense where participating in P2P activity (what's not made clear in the media is that it's uploaders they go after, not downloaders - but many downloaders are unaware that they're also uploading anyway!) may not, sites such as allofmp3 are significantly more convenient to use than P2P, in terms of download speed, getting competently ripped/encoded files and so on.

jj_jj

I think allofmp3.com is a little on the unethical side. Okay rather unethical to be honest. However, I'm hoping it's going to bring the iTunes et all closer to charging reasonable prices for downloaded music. After all there're zero manufacturing costs and much much lower distribution costs.

I'm unsure ethically how it differs from buying music from say CD-WOW or Play where the CD's are imported. It's got to be *much* better for the environment.

I realise that the amounts charged are much smaller, but how would $1.50 for an album sound to your averagely paid Russian? Is that affordable to them? If so, do we have the right to buy at the same price? If not, is that price fixing?

I do sympathise a little with the music industry, as they like everyone else are under a great deal of pressure to make bigger and bigger profits. I stop sympathising when I hear about Sir Paul's £800,000,000 fortune.

When the British industry get it sorted and develop a site where downloaded albums are non-DRM'd, £2.00 each and 70% of that goes to the artist (after costs), I'll download from them.

Trouble is, who'd bother being a record label? Maybe that's the point!

John

Larchwood1

WELL! I have about 3000 records in my garage and if I want to buy oldies I can get (say) 24 tracks minimum on a CD for £4.99 in a motorway service station. Now removing CD production, marketing, VAT, profit etc and my best guess is that there's about 10p left over for the artist and the writer, so why am I being asked 79p for a download. So this is my view.

I pay 79p and happy to for new music which I download from Tesco, but I am unhappy about the licence codes which make playing the music and file transfer awkward. (I have followed the purchase with a free download sometimes to make this easier).

I free download anything I've got in the garage because why should I pay twice. I don't see how this can be illegal and there ought anyway to be a defence against the music industry creating relacements to the disk, cassette, CD, etc. as time passes.

I also free download old pop more than 10 years old because I can't find a site to sell to me at a proper price. I haven't looked at the Russian one, I will, but I would be unhappy if the artist and writer didn't get a cut.

I didn't vote btw as there wasn't an option to fit my view.

Larchwood1

jj_jj wrote:

I stop sympathising when I hear about Sir Paul's £800,000,000 fortune.

Well he earned it being the most successful British Artist in living memory, and really quoting the richest guy in the market by a country mile as a justification for avoiding paying all the struggling musicians doesn't really work as a moral argument.

robdaly209

I first read about this site in a Guardian review of music download sites. The report said that the site was legal because of Russian copyright law!! I've been using it for a while now and have downloaded about 100 songs for about £5. Using it I have compiled a "juke box" of my favourite songs from the last 40 years (yes I'm that old) that I have not already got on CD.......and this has prompted me to go and buy some of the cds that have these tracks on them. I reckon I have spent £60 on cds that I wouldn't have had I not downloaded from allofmp3. Sure its cheap and maybe "grey" but its provided me with a reason to spend money on music that I wouldn't have otherwise. By the way I tried Itunes and others and this site is much slicker and easier to use!!!

lincolnscot

Hello all

While I have not heard of the site in particular, I do regularly use another Russian site, name withheld as per the wishes of several other posters.

The site that I mention has an American pay processor and proudly displays a royalties payment disclaimer. Thus I am happy that the royalties are paid, perhaps as mentioned only to those record labels that register,but then labels have known of the digital threat for ages. Therefore the criminalisation of consumers for the label managers failings is the sign of a desparate industry clinging onto its outdated business model.