Soundike and GoMusicNow are very much like the AllofMP3 alternatives we wrote about a while ago. They all offer dirt cheap music for direct download with tracks as low as 9 cents each with further discounts for whole album purchases.

Adding insult to injury, many of these sites carry content which would be more at home on a torrent site, such as a full length ‘Michael Jackson Memorial Mix’ bootleg being sold by Soundike for $0.12. So-called ‘Scene’ rips can be found on these sites in abundance.

Needless to say, the music industry in most parts of the world hate these sites and isn’t averse to taking legal action against them to shut them down or in this case, get them blocked from the Internet. Hindering this process is the fact that many such sites are licensed in Russia by the Russian Organization for Multimedia and Digital Systems, which they claim allows them to operate legally, at least inside Russia.

Despite the noise being made by RISA, South African ISPs aren’t about to comply with their requests. On behalf of its members the Internet Service Providers Association (ISPA) wrote to RISA rejecting the demands.

“It isn’t up to ISPA to decide whether or not websites should be blocked. It is up to ISPA to assist and advise its members in dealing with take-down notices made in terms of the ECT Act,” Mybroadband reports ISPA GM Ant Brooks as saying.

Brooks went on to explain that copyright law only allows for removal of content hosted on the network to which any takedown complaint is sent and cannot be used to block access to material on other networks or indeed, in other countries.

ISPA has informed its members that the music industry demands are invalid and will be rejected. However, blocking sites is possible, just not via the route RISA would like.

In common with other attempted blocks around the world on various sites (including the recent proposed block of The Pirate Bay in The Netherlands) courts in South Africa do have the power to block websites although that would require some expensive due process, something RISA would like to avoid.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

Before the shutdown, AllOfMP3 had around 6 million users who were able to download songs and albums for a tiny fraction of the price of authorized alternatives such as iTunes. The RIAA said it could not live with this situation.

In December 2006, the RIAA filed a complaint against the site, stating that AllofMP3 sold millions of tracks to the public yet gave no money back to their artists.

According to a report, on May 20th 2008 the RIAA filed papers in federal court, Manhattan, dropping its copyright infringement lawsuit against AllofMP3.

“The site is now defunct and out of business, the result of a successful anti-piracy initiative,” Jonathan Lamy, an RIAA spokesman told Bloomberg.

Notably, Lamy did not mention a fully operational site set up by the same people as AllofMP3, called Mp3Sparks. Different name, same tunes, no lawsuit.

AllofMP3 was blocked by a Swedish ISP back in 2006 when it got caught up in the anti-AllofMP3 hysteria but later retracted its stance.

In August 2007, AllofMP3 was acquitted in Russia of all charges that had been put forward by IFPI and on October 24th 2007, a district court in Moscow confirmed the innocent verdict.

“They [RIAA] never correctly commenced the proceeding in the first place,” said John Crossman, who represented the site’s owner, MediaServices LLC.

“Maybe it was a rare triumph of good sense.”

In the meantime, dozens of similar sites operate in Russia, delivering super-cheap music to the masses in much the same way as AllofMP3 did.

Victory for the RIAA? Not quite.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

In the meantime, we thought we could take a look at some other Russian music sites, offering cheap music to the masses.

MP3Fiesta

MP3 Fiesta hold nearly 67,000 albums from nearly 17,000 artists. Prices are around the $0.10 mark for single tracks with full albums coming in at roughly $1.00. Tracks are available from 192kbps and they take major credit cards and PayPal.

LegalSounds

Another allofmp3 replacement, LegalSounds.com prices are $0.09 per song, full album downloads average $1 each. Music carried includes the US Top 100 Albums/Singles, European Top 100 Albums and UK Top 50. Tracks are available between 192kbps and 320kbps and they take major credit cards.

JustMusic

Just Music carry around 160,000 albums from 44,000 different artists. Prices vary according to the amount of credit you apply to your account and range between $0.11 and $0.15 per track. Tracks are available at 192kbps and they take major credit cards and PayPal.

GoMusic

GoMusic claim to carry over 35,000 tracks. Prices are $0.19 per track and around $2 per full album. Tracks are available in various bitrates and they take major credit cards.

MP3 Skyline

MP3 Skyline appears to be offering a huge amount of music. The site claims a staggering 2.2 million tracks available from over 128,000 artists. Prices are around the $0.35 mark for single tracks and encoded at 192kbps. Major credit cards and PayPal are accepted, along with other payment options. They also have a free download of the day, currently ‘Seeing Red’ by Killing Joke.

MP3Sale

MP3 Sale boasts a cataolgue of over 90,000 albums from 23,556 artists. Prices are $0.15 for a single track with full albums around the $1.50 mark. Tracks are encoded at 192kbps and the site takes all major credit cards, PayPal and a wide range of other payment options.

iSound

iSound currently offer nearly 60,000 albums from 14,000 artists. Prices start at $0.11 per track up to a maximum of $0.15, depending on the amount fo credit deposited in your account. Tracks are encoded at a minimum of 192kbps. Major credit cards and PayPal are accepted.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

AllOfMP3 has been a thorn in the side of the RIAA and the US government for years. Last year, U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab said that if Russia wants to join the WTO, they should shut down the pirate music website [AllOfMP3] that is robbing U.S. recording companies of sales.

In an interview with P2Pnet, the owners of AllOffMP3 later said that Schwab completely and deliberately mischaracterized AllofMP3, “it is irresponsible to use AllofMP3.com as a negotiating instrument in an attempt to extract concessions from Russia”, thay added. But now it seems like president Putin has some good news to tell Bush today, a mere coincidence of course.

It is not clear how effective the shutdown of AllOfMP3 will be. Most users will probably move to MP3sparks, a similar service with a similar setup, launched by the same company. This site is not illegal under Russian law because they use a different licensing model.

Last December the Danish ISP “Perspectiv” decided to block access to AllOfMP3 for all their users. In a response, The Pirate Bay, working together with the pro-piracy lobby PiratbyrÃ¥n, decided to block all Perspektiv’s customers from accessing its site. Not long after that “Perspectiv” reconsidered their position, and their customers were allowed to access the online music store again.

My gut feeling says that these “grey market” MP3 sites are just another Hydra.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

The verdict hasn’t been taken well by ISPs the world over. It is a milestone in the IFPI’s efforts. According to the IFPI it will be referenced in future cases, not only against Danish ISPs, but ones in other EU countries too.

The verdict could have very strong implications for the future. It clearly states that an ISP can be held liable for temporarily (milliseconds) storing infringing data on their routers. This means that ISPs can be forced to block websites, if the court decides (read: assumes) that these sites are mainly used to spread “illegal” content.

These are the most critical passages in the IFPI vs. Tele2 ruling :

The head of a Danish telecommunications industry group told Computerworld Denmark that they “are horrified over this judgment, to say the least. It means that we must now keep an eye on what our users are doing online. And blocking user access to certain websites will never be a perfect solution.”

We had the chance to talk to Sebastian, spokesperson for Piratgruppen. Piratgruppen is the sister organization of the famous Swedish PiratbyrÃ¥n, an organization whose goals are reforming current copyright law and protecting consumers’ rights. He said: “This case shows that it has never been the question if Allofmp3 were legal or not. Its part of IFPI’s more general attack on the freedom of the Internet. They have lost control over their customers, and they want it back at any price.”

“The verdict is highly controversial as it brings internet censorship to Europe. It states that ISPs are responsible for the traffic they route. In this way introducing a new paradigm, where Internet service providers are obliged to block sites that the authorities dislike. The verdict is at the same time so unclear that accusations of copyright infringement can be used to censor a long list of sites. The result is the destruction of the Internet as a free space of communication, and the realization of national borders in cyberspace.”

It’s strange how people are making such a Herculean effort to block a Russian music site when millions of scam and phishing sites remain at large. The U.S. is even going so far as to put pressure on the World Trade Organisation to deny Russia a seat on the council. All for an mp3 music site! Shouldn’t we be concentrating our efforts on more important things? Sites that actually cause financial harm to individuals? Oh wait, AllofMP3 does cause financial harm to musicians. How will (insert name here) afford her next Ferrari? Just kidding. Or am I?

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.