Music downloads, how legal is legal enough?

nim_2

I am happy - in fact I am enthusiastic - for the artists to be appropriately recompensed for their work.

However the present system is set up to make sure that the artist is the last person to get any reasonable recompense - the place where all the money goes is the record company machine. A few artists do well out of the system - but only a very few, and Paul McCartney is a real exception within that category (as a writer he does rather better than most) - however the money he has made on this will be completely drwarfed by the money made by the record labels, lawyers and general riff-raff - all of whom are working really hard to make sure the artist gets his hands on as small a percentage as possible of the purchase price. Basically there is a cartel here - very similar to the one that runs the book publishing business.

There is some stuff on this in Courtney Love's speech to the Digital Hollywood online entertainment conference, although this is just the most famous of these sort of analyses.

My take is that I would probably give more money to the artists by simply dropping it in the street than I would by buying CDs - and I definitely do not want to support the current CD infrastructure. By preference I would get music from as close to a direct link to the artists as I can.

Without that option - especially bearing in mind I will not buy music with DRM (designed to prevent the end-user being able to transfer the music they buy onto other devices even if that is legitimate) - then I will buy from AllOfMP3, and the occaisional CD (although I take them back if they are copy protected as not fit for purpose - as they do not comply with CD Red Book standards).

I am hoping that the big media industries, who believe suing their own customers to be a valid expansion policy, will collapse as their particular business model becomes irrelevant - unfortunately this will take a while.

regvardy

Having read the discussion here are my summarised points:

1: why did the National Press (i read the Sunday Times) include the site in its comparison tables? Could it be that fact that the editotials teams quite rightly disagree with the co-ordinated and expensive price structures of itunes and napster etc.... and the download limitations. I absolutely loathe the idea of not really owning an inferior quality track from itunes, and paying thru the nose for it. I suspect the editors agree. PS. I hadn't heard about the site, but like lots of other Sunday Times readers I have now.

2: Its not P2P and I'm not uploading. How can I possibly be prosecuted????

3: I agree that in the fullness of time paying for music may well turn out to be an Historical Blip. Live shows is where the money's at. Living of the royalties for the rest of your life for from some song that took 10 minutes to write doesn't wash. When the majority of the royalties are going to Middle men, they can get stuffed.

4. Its a global economy, think of all those jobs that are outsourced from the UK to India, China, Taiwan etc...... If Western Europe and US corporates are going to take advantage of low labour costs, then consumers in the west and US should be free to take advantage of music downloads that are legal in Russia. You got to take the rough with the smooth. The US, they are the drivers, are trying to protect their new knowledge based economies thru copyright and patenting. It ain't going to work there's a going to be a backlash.

sra

Just saw this:

http://www.out-law.com/default.aspx?page=6956

alikat_3

Although I have never downloaded music from the Russian sites, I don't believe it is illegal to download from these sites for personal use any more than it's illegal for me to download from an American site, which I do belong to.

Alfie_E

sra wrote:

Just saw this:

http://www.out-law.com/default.aspx?page=6956

So, “AllofMP3 is illegal, says music industry” – a bit like saying night follows days. I believe that rights holders get no money because the no rights holders’ body is prepared to communicate with ROMS about this. To do so would be to weaken their assertion that it’s illegal.

In relation to prosecutions, see Moscow prosecutor lets low-cost MP3 site off the hook. The IFPI doesn’t state why the current and former directors are being taken to trial. The OUT-LAW article doesn’t link it to copyright. Has someone alleged tax evasion – a popular allegation in Russia? Also, I can see no evidence that allofMP3.it has any connection with AllofMP3.com.

Sued? Well, technically you could be sued for recording a Hollywood movie broadcast on BBC 1, so you can watch it later. No-one, to my knowledge, has been. If they sue people, they’re damned, no matter what the outcome. If they lose, it’s a disaster; it sets precedence that adds weight to the site’s legality. If they win, it will cause serious damage to the emerging online music market. When they see the headlines, people who don’t understand the details will be put off completely, including buying from the major players like iTunes. For all the rest that do understand, it’s going to harm the smaller players. How do I know if that smaller American indie-band website has a legitimate license and will be passing on the correct fees to the rights holders? And, if they’re not, is it my fault?

axean

Like some others who have posted before me I use allofmp3 not only because of the cost but because the choice of file formats. The choice is simply stunning. And I know of no other download site that even offers the ogg format, but allofmp3 let you chose between a bundle of formats in vbr and cbr.

When will people wake up to the fact that cbr mp3 is very poor quality?
I would rather remove my genitals with a cheese-grater than buy a song wrapped in DRM

Since I understand the tech side, and believe the main sites offer a terrible product, at 15 times the price, why would I use them?

Legality? Just like the UK, Russia has one of the best Legal Industries and Goverments money can buy. Everything I have read over the last few years state it is legal. But I wouldnt be surprised if the global media industry succesfully loby the Russians authorities, who find some way of removing the company. Remember, most items are cheaper in Russia, and a CD only costs £3.00. So the cost per download is fair for Russians, and there is no law stopping me buying a CD in Russia the next time I am there. (I think )

I have a link to website that compares legal download sites. It has information about the legality debate, and the fact that allofmp3 is the best by a long way.
http://www.museekster.com/index2.html

And incase your interested, the following link shows you how to make high quality mp3's from your own CD's
http://www.bestmp3guide.com/

Anyway what all the fuss about downloadling music? I'm off to download the DaVinci Code for free :shhh: Thats a joke, I would'nt do that because its illegal.

GlynG

Hey – what a fantastic site

I can well see this being my favourite money saving tip thusfar – just cashed in $50 and started the lovely downloads...

Thanks Martin!

edited to add: I would be willing to pay more for music, but only if the majority of the money, or at least a much higher slice went to the artists. And the fact I can choose the format and pay so little is a big plus - can now easily and cheaply try new artists and albums.

wolfman

For me it's the flexibility of AllOfMp3 that makes it such a great service.

The music industry are forcing the consumer to listen to music how they want you to. As an example I don't use iTunes because I'd then be restricted to an iPod, along with a DRM protected track. This would force me to use AAC (not a free format) and restrict what devices I can play my music on.

I personally like Ogg, due to it's high quality, and the fact that patents/royalties don't need to be paid when using it (like with Mp3 and AAC), so I see it as a format worth supporting. Many music sites don't support Ogg though.

For me, being able to pick how the track is encoded (AAC, Ogg, Mp3 etc...) and the quality (bitrate) of the track is hugely beneficial. There's no DRM protection, making my music truly portable, so I can use it on my phone, iPod (with Rockbox!), computer, Xbox, etc...

The price too is great, but I'd happily pay more (to support the artist/song writer, but not the record label!). It's a slick service (alltunes is great) that gives me flexibility and more importantly, choice.

jasonrat

my little point of view. wherever we go we can listen to it on the radio on tv top of the pops and background music in clubs and pubs and its always free to listen to. i do feel though that prices over here are very expensive compared to other countries. i know in thailand that you can buy an album for just over a couple of quid and thats a genuine copy. maybe its the market value. but i might be right in thinking that most artists dont get that much from album or single sales its probably the label that makes the most. whereas live concerts are the big money earner. maybe artists should cut their losses and do more live concerts then everyone would be happy(apart from the record labels)

Former_MSE_Andrea

Below are the results to our previous poll. Thanks to the 3351 participants who took part in this poll.

Previous Poll Topic: Poll Started 22 May 2006. Downloading a single music track is 79p, an album around £7. Yet Russian website allofmp3.com is 2p and 60p for the same. Whether it's legal is a grey area, it's legal in russia but breaks the laws here, the artists don't get any cut of the revenue. Which of the following is nearest your view (and don't worry your vote isn't tracked!).

C. Yippee. Sounds great to me. 37.3% - (1252 Votes)
B. I'm tempted. Cheap's good, but I'm worried about the legality. 34.7% - (1165 Votes)
A. It's disgraceful. It steals the artists' work. 16.3% - (547 Votes)
D. Already there. I've used it before. 11.4% - (384 Votes)

Total Votes: 3351