RIAA Sues Allofmp3.com for 1.65 TRILLION Dollars

Fuzz420

Fuzz420

Are U Here 2 take My Baby
Apr 30, 2005
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www.hiphop-universe.com
The RIAA is seeking $150,000 for each of the 11 million songs AllofMP3 allegedly pirated.

It was first reported by the Washington Post last week that the RIAA was suing the Russian online music distribution company Mediaservices, which owns AllofMP3.com and allTunes.com, for illegally selling copyrighted music.

The companies behind the claim, which include the major record labels Arista Records LLC, Warner Bros. Records Inc., Capitol Records Inc. and UMG Recordings Inc., filed the suit in a New York federal court claiming that "...Mediaservices' sites sell millions of songs by their artists without paying them 'a dime' for the right to do so."

"Defendant's entire business ... amounts to nothing more than a massive infringement of plaintiffs' exclusive rights under the Copyright Act and New York law," according to the lawsuit.

As part of their claim, the labels are seeking $150,000 USD for each of the 11 million songs that were downloaded from June to October 2006 from the AllofMP3.com website.

Now how much money the site has made is unknown but, certainly its profits are not in the trillions of dollars.

"AllofMP3 understands that several U.S. record label companies filed a lawsuit against Media Services in New York," an unnamed "senior company official" stated. "This suit is unjustified as AllofMP3 does not operate in New York. Certainly the labels are free to file any suit they wish, despite knowing full well that AllofMP3 operates legally in Russia. In the mean time, AllofMP3 plans to continue to operate legally and comply with all Russian laws."

What he has to say is true, for isn't AllofMP3 currently complying with Russian copyright laws?

As I previously reported, technically AllOfMP3 does obey the law-Russian law. It pays the standard 15% Russian licensing fee that applies to online music to ROM, the Russian Organization for Multimedia & digital systems. ROM is the Russian equivalent of the RIAA, and according to their website they are "...the national Russian organization providing professional collective management of authors’ property rights and protection of interests of rights holders in cases of use of their works in digital interactive networks, including the Internet." But, unfortunately for AllOfMP3 the RIAA doesn't recognize ROM's legitimacy, perhaps out of fear that it would help legitimize AllOfMP3 and erode their position against it.

Furthermore, considering that they already have online distribution deals with other companies like Microsoft and Apple for instance, it stands to reason that it is not that copyright infringement is the concern but, rather the amount in royalty payments that the Russian sites are required to pay.

After related recent events in which the RIAA was demanding a cut of the profits from every one of Microsoft's Zune players sold, as well as talk that it would seek a similar arrangement in future deals with Apple's iTunes, it's no wonder that the RIAA wants to make sure it gets as much money as it can, consumers and the laws of sovereign countries be dammed.



*UPDATE: From the AllOfMP3 site

An attempt by the major record labels to use a U.S. court to as part of its campaign against AllofMP3.com is imprudent.

AllofMP3 understands that several US record label companies filed a lawsuit against Mediaservices in New York. This suit is unjustified as AllofMP3.com does not operate in New York. Certainly the labels are free to file any suit they wish, despite knowing full well that AllofMP3.com operates legally in Russia.

In the mean time, AllofMP3.com plans to continue to operate legally and comply with all Russian laws.


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C

csr ma71

rooftop sniper
Apr 2, 2005
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This is just like the first day in prison where you smack the biggest person in the lunch hall so that no one else will mess with you from then on because you've proved that you're keeping it real.
 
LilMissMkIII

LilMissMkIII

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If they're American (or Australian, or ANY nationality of artist), they (and their record companies deserve to be compensated...

I just don't see how it's fair that these songs are distributed for free...

I think the AMOUNT they were suing for is absolutely ludicrous though...

My 2c :)
 
Anomili

Anomili

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Apr 9, 2005
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There was a time when musicians traveled from town to town and played for food. I wonder when it all changed and we came to believe that their songs were worth the money we pay. I understand copyrighting something that is useful because then the inventor has actually created something that we can use (applies to both intellectual/ scientific theories and physical inventions.) A song, however, is just someone saying something "real perdy like." Perhaps we should have to pay massive royalties whenever we quote a famous speech or use a famous phrase?
 
RHDMK3

RHDMK3

that's it!
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I agree with Anomili. This is nothing but a bunch of overly compensated music industry execs try to get something that they feel they are entitled too. It's all bullshit in my opinion. I think that they( the artist's) should be compensated for their music but c'mon? 1.65 trillion's worth?
 
drunk_medic

drunk_medic

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Anomili said:
There was a time when musicians traveled from town to town and played for food. I wonder when it all changed and we came to believe that their songs were worth the money we pay. I understand copyrighting something that is useful because then the inventor has actually created something that we can use (applies to both intellectual/ scientific theories and physical inventions.) A song, however, is just someone saying something "real perdy like." Perhaps we should have to pay massive royalties whenever we quote a famous speech or use a famous phrase?
Click to expand...

Agreed. Since when does any entertainer deserve the millions for what they do? The music industry doesn't grind my gears as much as Hollywood, however; in these days of digital, you aren't exactly wasting film on getting takes perfect. Hell, I could star in the movies and appear to be a compelling actor, given enough takes. Not everyone uses digital recording, but you get my point.
 
GrimJack

GrimJack

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This is one of my favorite subjects. :D

The RIAA is full of shit. The value of the songs they are lamenting the loss of has been overinflated. Further, who really thinks any of that money would go back to the artist? Anyone? Not bloody likely.

The whole music industry is in for a rude awakening. Compare it to the book industry, for instance. If you write a book, and a publisher prints and distributes it, you still own the copyright - after all, you created it, not your publisher. When your contract with them expires, the rights to that work revert to you.

If you are a musician, your publisher owns your work - you've sold your rights to them forever. Further, you're often required to support their opinions in public - or they'll blacklist you, stop printing your CDs, and guess what - you don't own your own music, so you can't even take your recording to a competing company and get it printed there!

That's not all. Add in the fact that recording industry executives control the industry - from start to finish. They choose who will be 'hot' - who you will hear on the radio all the time, who will win the top 10 countdowns, the 1 vs 1 showdowns, etc. They control how much you will pay for a CD. And they have controlled this for a long time.

However... their control is slipping... slowly fading away. Many musicians are opting to skip the record labels now, and publish straight to the internet. The record industry is TERRIFIED of this - if they loose their control, let people listen to what they want - and worse yet, pay for what they want, and stop paying the inflated prices the recording companies demand, and pay the artist 100% of the profit, (instead of the pennies per CD that they make now)... well, the short version is they are going to be out of business.

That bunch of old, greedy, rich, fat cats can't figure out how to keep all that money flowing into their bank account, so they are lashing out in the weirdest ways - suing people all over, listeners who share their music on bittorrent, or napster, or whatever, and sites that they have zero authority over, like allofmp3. Last time I checked, suing the people that might buy your product wasn't a very viable business tactic.

I fully expect to watch the music companies scream, howl, and claw all the way to their ugly demise. Hopefully leaving something in their place that allows us to listen to the music we like, and pay the artists directly for the pleasure - making it cheaper for us, artists will survive on the virtue of their musical ability, and will make more money from cutting out the middlemen.
 
Fuzz420

Fuzz420

Are U Here 2 take My Baby
Apr 30, 2005
1,970
0
0
41
Infinite Consciousness of One
www.hiphop-universe.com
GrimJack said:
This is one of my favorite subjects. :D

The RIAA is full of shit. The value of the songs they are lamenting the loss of has been overinflated. Further, who really thinks any of that money would go back to the artist? Anyone? Not bloody likely.

The whole music industry is in for a rude awakening. Compare it to the book industry, for instance. If you write a book, and a publisher prints and distributes it, you still own the copyright - after all, you created it, not your publisher. When your contract with them expires, the rights to that work revert to you.

If you are a musician, your publisher owns your work - you've sold your rights to them forever. Further, you're often required to support their opinions in public - or they'll blacklist you, stop printing your CDs, and guess what - you don't own your own music, so you can't even take your recording to a competing company and get it printed there!

That's not all. Add in the fact that recording industry executives control the industry - from start to finish. They choose who will be 'hot' - who you will hear on the radio all the time, who will win the top 10 countdowns, the 1 vs 1 showdowns, etc. They control how much you will pay for a CD. And they have controlled this for a long time.

However... their control is slipping... slowly fading away. Many musicians are opting to skip the record labels now, and publish straight to the internet. The record industry is TERRIFIED of this - if they loose their control, let people listen to what they want - and worse yet, pay for what they want, and stop paying the inflated prices the recording companies demand, and pay the artist 100% of the profit, (instead of the pennies per CD that they make now)... well, the short version is they are going to be out of business.

That bunch of old, greedy, rich, fat cats can't figure out how to keep all that money flowing into their bank account, so they are lashing out in the weirdest ways - suing people all over, listeners who share their music on bittorrent, or napster, or whatever, and sites that they have zero authority over, like allofmp3. Last time I checked, suing the people that might buy your product wasn't a very viable business tactic.

I fully expect to watch the music companies scream, howl, and claw all the way to their ugly demise. Hopefully leaving something in their place that allows us to listen to the music we like, and pay the artists directly for the pleasure - making it cheaper for us, artists will survive on the virtue of their musical ability, and will make more money from cutting out the middlemen.
Click to expand...


Very well said. I couldnt agree more.When the RIAA goes after apple in the future like this article speculates, i would consider that "the shit hitting the fan," granted that itunes is completely "legal" to download from.(for now)
 
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