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Russian music download sites

post #1 of 17
12/27/06 at 1:16pm
Thread Starter 
Anyone have any experience with or wisdom about these?

The songs are dirt-cheap - usually 10-15 cents each.

The site I'm looking at is http://music.allofmp3.com/help/help_guide.shtml

(allofmp3.com)

Thanks,

Jon
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post #2 of 17
12/27/06 at 1:21pm

Re: Russian music download sites

Supposedly, it's legal in Russia, but it's been a target of lawsuits in the US. It's apparently also been a stumbling block in admitting Russia to the WTO.

Some background:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6159881.stm
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post #3 of 17
12/27/06 at 5:31pm

Re: Russian music download sites

Seems to me paying a little over a dollar for a complete album is not possible when trying to account for artist royalties, overhead of the site, record co.'s cut, etc.

On the positive side I would imagine as far as prosecution of illegal downloaders is concerned this would not be the first place the authorities would go to prosecute individuals since there is some grey area.
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post #4 of 17
12/27/06 at 6:10pm

Re: Russian music download sites

I'm sure this won't be here long...but...

Yes its true and yes that is what they charge. However Visa and Mastercard will not allow you to tie their cards to an account there.

Its not legal here but is legal there so unless you got a yacht with internet access 8 miles off the coast I'm sure this will be closed or deleted shortly.
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post #5 of 17
12/28/06 at 7:07am

Re: Russian music download sites

Breaking news.
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post #6 of 17
12/28/06 at 8:43am

Re: Russian music download sites

I haven't used this service, but one nice thing about it is you can pick the compression rate for your mp3s, and they also have Ogg Vorbis files. I don't have any desire to pay money for lossy mp3 files, but they do sell flac files. I would pay .50 -.75 a piece for flac files. I won't pay more for digital files than actually purchasing the cd, unless it's something I can't find any where.
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post #7 of 17
1/1/07 at 5:25pm
Thread Starter 

Re: Russian music download sites

So, has anyone here actually used this site? Just wondering about its convenience, reliability, stability, etc.
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post #8 of 17
1/1/07 at 6:28pm

Re: Russian music download sites

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jon_Are
So, has anyone here actually used this site? Just wondering about its convenience, reliability, stability, etc.
I've used it, before I discovered the questionable nature of their business. While I did run into some server issues occasionally (dropped connections primarily), the service was well run, affordable, and very convenient.

The one and only reason I used them is because they offer lossless downloads. I'm not interested in buying MP3s online, but if I can buy lossless (FLAC) music downloads, save myself a drive to the store to pick up a CD, and save the planet a few pounds of CO2 and trash in the process, then that's worthwhile to me. Unfortunately I know of no other online music service that sells lossless downloads. What a pity.
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post #9 of 17
1/7/07 at 5:26pm

Re: Russian music download sites

As a content provider whose work has been stolen by many of these sites, they are not legit and are in no way compensating the artists or anyone involved in actually producing the music. You may as well just fileshare and save your money. I would also question where your credit card info winds up...
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post #10 of 17
1/7/07 at 6:09pm

Re: Russian music download sites

I usually only use these sites to download stuff I can't find on p2p.....although I haven't used allofmp3 since they stopped processing visa cards
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post #11 of 17
1/7/07 at 8:59pm

Re: Russian music download sites

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeff Ulmer
... in no way compensating the artists or anyone involved in actually producing the music. ...
Can anybody say what the industry standard (iTunes) gives to the artists for every 99 cents?

I'm assuming the breakdown is....
75%: Label
25%: Apple
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post #12 of 17
1/7/07 at 11:29pm

Re: Russian music download sites

Quote:
Originally Posted by Garrett Lundy
Can anybody say what the industry standard (iTunes) gives to the artists for every 99 cents?

In many cases, probably very little.

This isn't Apple's fault. Apple is paying the costs for electronic distribution and retailing -- costs that in the CD world, the record companies and retail stores would normally bear.

The problem is the division of the royalties. Even though the record labels don't contribute a whole lot of value to iTunes sales, they still have control over the recording copyrights that they take away from the artists. I think that in many cases, they take advantage of this to set up the arrangement "the lion's share of the download sales revenue goes to the record label, & only some fraction of that goes to the recording artist".
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post #13 of 17
1/8/07 at 5:32pm

Re: Russian music download sites

But does anyone know the actual percent paid to the artist? (which I assume is different for artists of different labels). I've heard everything from 2% to 1/100th of 1% (For every $999 bought the artists gets whole $.99), but nobody can cite anything. Does anyone know anything concrete?
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post #14 of 17
1/8/07 at 9:17pm

Re: Russian music download sites

Quote:
Originally Posted by Garrett Lundy
But does anyone know the actual percent paid to the artist? (which I assume is different for artists of different labels). I've heard everything from 2% to 1/100th of 1% (For every $999 bought the artists gets whole $.99), but nobody can cite anything. Does anyone know anything concrete?

I found a little information in International Herald-Tribune -- Cheap Trick, Allman Brothers sue Sony over download royalties (4/30/2006)
Quote:
The bands are getting about 4½ cents per song, according to the suit, rather than the approximately 30 cents they claim is rightfully theirs.
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post #15 of 17
1/9/07 at 1:45pm

Re: Russian music download sites

Wow! I never thought the artists share would be that high.
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post #16 of 17
1/9/07 at 7:48pm

Re: Russian music download sites

Never underestimate the hubris and greed of record companies:

"Under that old rubrik, the record company deducts fees for the kind of extra costs they used to incur when records were pressed on vinyl, including packaging charges, restocking costs and losses due to breakage."

which of course are now N/A.

I'd really like to see if those old contacts will hold up in a court today or if the judge will interpret them much differently than a Sony would.
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post #17 of 17
1/12/07 at 3:22pm

Re: Russian music download sites

Quote:
has anyone here actually used this site?
Be aware that a FLAC item downloaded from that site may not actually be lossless... it could be a FLAC encoded version of an old mp3 file. Some albums are fine, others are not. Legality aside, it is definitely buyer beware on these bargin sites (if high quality is critical to you).
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