The Frontal Cortex

Allofmp3.com and Piracy

Posted by Jonah Lehrer on October 18, 2006
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I’m probably breaking some obscure copyright law by simply mentioning this website. For those who don’t know, allofmp3.com features ridiculously cheap mp3 files: a song usually costs a dime, not a dollar. The catch? They are a shady Russian company that uses a loophole in Russian law to not pay royalties. Whether or not to buy music from them is a continual test of my conscience, a daily moral dilemma. (Needless to say, my selfish impulses usually win. Sorry, iTunes.) But now the U.S. government is making Russia’s admittance to the WTO dependent on allofmp3.com going out of business. If I was gambling man, I’d wager that allofmp3.com isn’t long for this world. So get your cheap music fast, before the pseudo-legal loophole disappears.

PS. It suddenly occured to me that if allofmp3.com is put of business by the U.S. government, the company will still have the credit card information of hundreds of thousands of U.S. consumers. So maybe this visit-allofmp3.com-before-they-die idea isn’t such a good idea after all…

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Comments

  1. #1 Mark
    October 18, 2006

    I think music sharing is the market at work, although not many creative types like that concept. However, I also think that if you’re going to take music and avoid paying royalties, you should do it honestly, in your own country.

  2. #2 Michael Kenward
    October 19, 2006

    The idea that you can “avoid paying royalties” “honestly, in your own country” is a wonderful mangling of logic.

    You cannot avoid paying royalties honestly. That’s the whole point.

    Anyone using allofmp3.com does so knowing that there is something slightly smelly in the air. At least admitting to “selfish impulses” is honest. But why stop there? Why not help yourself to anything you like in the local supermarket? Why not steal books from the library? Or, nearer to home, why not pinch a copy of Seed from the newsstand on the way home?

    The Open Source movement is at least based on the notion that we have already paid for the research, so why should publishers reap more returns.

  3. #3 Michael Kenward
    October 19, 2006

    By coincidence, I found this after posting the previous reponse:

    AllofMP3.com Goes on Media Offensive

    It has plenty of details on this topic.

  4. #4 Michael Kenward
    October 19, 2006

    You picked a good day to raise this one.

    Now we have this:

    Visa halts its service for allofmp3.com

  5. #5 Andrew Janefd
    August 7, 2007

    There are many internationally based web sites like Allofmp3 which offers music download service, and are continually coming under pressure from other countries to shut down. i know more 19 store or service that provides the best digital music experience at lens http://www.squidoo.com/review_russianmp3site .