AllOfMP3.com Closes…and Re-opens

A massive Russian music download site has closed after much controversy – but seems to have simply re-opened under another name.

A Russian music download site, which claims to be the world’s biggest music download retailer after iTunes, has been shut down – but appears to have re-opened under another name.   Allofmp3.com has long been the subject of controversy. In the West, many groups claim it’s a pirate site, selling music cheaply and not paying royalties, although the company insisted that it was legal, paying royalties to a Russian licensing agency.   However, that hadn’t stopped a flood of lawsuits from bodies like Arista and Capitol Records, as well as the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). It reached the point last year where the U.S. Trade Representative told Russia the site had to be shut before Russia could be admitted to the World Trade Organization.   Moscow finally agreed to shut the site last October. For the last week, international users had been unable to log on to allofmp3.com, although Russian users received a message saying the site was undergoing maintenance.   But no sooner has one site bitten the dust than another has begun. Media Services, who own allofmp3.com, has opened mp3sparks.com, which on the face of things is nothing more than a copycat site – and which claims to pay royalties and is authorized to legally sell music.   That’s another hurdle for authorities to face, however. For now there has been celebration over closing allofmp3.com   “Allofmp3.com violated copyright law in Russia and internationally by ripping off artists and creators, taking music that it had no right to reproduce and selling it worldwide,” said John Kennedy, president of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industries (IFPI). “If this is the end of allofmp3.com, this is good news.”