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 The Russians like free trade as much as the rest of the world, but now a popular music download site is in the cross hairs of the MPAA which specifically puts pressure to the U.S. Trade Representatives Office. The site, allofmp3 allows music downloads of major artist such as The Dixie Chicks, Metallica and Prince as well as a large selection of Russian artists.
For pennies on the dollar compared to authorized outlets such as iTunes and other pay and download vendors they offer an easy way to get what people are wanting, and thats quality, reasonable priced music in an open format we all would like to buy.
According to the info in allofmp3 legal faq they state they are legally entitled, under Russian Federation law to do so. Perhaps the question that should be raised is, if they are abiding by Russian law, then Russian citizens, residing in Russia should have every right to download , and pay to do so as they wish [as we interpret the site statement , being it true or not].
What Zone-H questions is how is it possible that the MPAA lobby is strong enough to dictate rules to the WTO / USTRO system? With so many important problems on the table, isn't it questionable that important issues such WTO agreements are currently overshadowded by absolutely secondary problems such the DRM, when compared to the troubles our global world has currently to deal with?
Can we really accept that all the risks we have taken during the time of the cold war, all aimed to build a world were we could intergrate the Russians in the worlwide open market system, can be subject today to movie/music industry dictatorship? We don't condone piracy but we also cannot accept that important cross-country economic agreements can be subject to the MPAA veto.
If you were wondering about the reason of the recent PirateBay fiasco , major entertainment website defacements ... here we certanly got part of the answer.
With the number of people obtaining media growing exponentially, even profits of percentages of cents can have a trickle down effect that can and will reach not only the artist but the companies they earn billions for. Exposure alone, extends into real profits of concert tours and merchandising, which is where the real money is at. Internet changed the way of doing business, face it or be ready to be labeled as jurassic.
In our opinion we should all just modify our perception of what's a fair business model, to look at things in a society that given a choice, will buy something legally that they could get free but illegally, if they feel it is a fair price.
A penny here a penny there...
UPDATE We received the followng statement from allofmp3.com. We report it here in its original form, the only comment we do is about point #2 , because it is denying (or intentionally ignoring) the borderless nature of the same Internet. ----- Original Message ----- From: "AllOfMP3" <
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To: <
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Sent: Tuesday, June 06, 2006 9:22 AM
Subject: THE ALLOFMP3.COM STATEMENT
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:
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Available at http://allofmp3.com/statement.shtml
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