Comments on: Are Russian music sites legal?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 01:38:23 +0000

this is pathetic i totally think that the Russian sites are 100% legal. So far nobody has been sued for using those sites, so as long as their legal while they are why not use them. I mean i love apple products but common not only apple but all the other sites that sell music why do you have to rip us all off. It comes down to greediness. Apparently the Russians aren’t that greedy that they have to make a killing off of music. It sux that the country is in a bad financial state and people that love music are charged an arm and a leg for it. So those US music companies can hopefully do something about this cuz the way it looks more people are going to be moving to Russia. LOL

By: ian

ian — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 17:52:06 +0000

for decades record companies controlled the means of distribution of recorded music. they used this power to enrich themselves as one would expect. new technology has destroyed the livelihood of millions of people worldwide. they have been advised to find new ways of making a living. the so called artists who make music and sell it it cheaply to record companies will continue to make music, of that im sure. (imagine bono getting a job !) however the means of distribution will change. the record companies know this and realise they will be cut out of the deal if they dont get changes in the law. in the long term this is just another industry which will not survive, and no one will care. do any of us care about the people who made tv tubes ? these russian sites are very definitely legal or the record companies would have gone after them like a dog after a rabbit. the days of men like paul mccartney spending a few hours in a studio and then making money from that for the rest of their lives are over. it was great while it lasted. musicians now need to take control of their product and sell it at a reasonable price and they will do just fine. so lets not shed any tears over the demise of this industry which for a lot of the time has been an absolute disgrace and has screwed musicians and fans alike for a long long time.

By: paul

paul — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 05:16:12 +0000

why dont these musicians start hustling out there and do more concerts and demand more of the money for themselves for actually doing some work! the musicians need to work together and control their own lives like the rest of us. the musicians let the music industry control them and take advantage of them. they have all the talent but dont know how to make money off of it. mayby some of the really wealthy artists need to come up with a better model for making money. how about get out htere and play your music and if its good people will pay to listen I would love to pay 30-40 $ to take my whole family to listen to some good music at alocal venue and enjoy a night out but if its going to cost 100-200 $ or more then I just cant go very often think about it 100 families @ 30 $ is 3000 thats for one nights work for 5 band members and 600$ each for 2hr sessions and 1800 per week thats 7200 $ per month for 24 hours of work in a whole month just ramblin the musicians need to organize locally and control what happens and who gets the money. give ordinary people something to do that they can afford to do often like going to the movies. they could still make additional money through other methods of sales of course, but earn a living locally entertaining local people. of course they have to organize!

By: Alice keymer

Alice keymer — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 04:33:08 +0000

Is this a joke? I have been buying music from thi ssite for years and always thought it was just a cheap music website. I was impressed by their prices and have been buying only from them. What’s going to happen to me?

By: lise

lise — Sun, 03 May 2009 15:04:14 +0000

I totally agree with Thomas above. Sorry, but I can’t afford $1 per track, and I resent the fact that that $1 isn’t even going to the people who created and performed the song – the overwhelming majority of it goes to fat label companies that I don’t need. I will continue to buy music from Russian music sites until the RIAA gets it through their thick heads that if they want to have any part in the future of the music industry they’d better revise their business strategies big time.
The nerve of them threatening Russia that they wont be allowed into the WTO unless they do something about their music sites – all those sites are really guilty of is being better capitalists than the western music industry, who previously have a monopoly with the only restrictions on price being what consumers were willing to fork out. Well now there is some competition so if you don’t like it learn to live on a lower income and CHARGE US LESS and you’ll get some business.
The only victims here are the artists, and I’m sure that as soon as the RIAA gets over their little tantrum and starts listening to sense we’ll see them getting a much larger proportion of the money generated in music sales.

By: Thomas

Thomas — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 03:39:15 +0000

For those complaining about their music on the Russian sites-

The Russian copyright law requires you to register your ownership with the government’s designated handler of disributions of these royalties. If you do that, they will send you money, in impossible-to-cash checks in Rubles.

We have a similar system in the US, but only for STREAMING radio and such, not for downloadables. If you don’t register, you’re not going to get the royalties when I play your song (LEGALLY) on my internet radio station.

If you were Russian, you’d be bitching about the $20 or less you’d never be able to actually get that SoundExchange has collected on your behalf here in the US.

These are the laws. Deal with it, and concentrate on what you can fix.

Sell me your MP3s in a way I like, and I’ll be glad to send you 20c a song. There are sites for this, and you should patronize the one that lets you offer every sort of format, all for the same price of 20c a song. Then you’ll make money off me, and I’ll be glad that you do.

Otherwise… I’ll get them from Russia!

THIS IS HOW THINGS WORK NOW!

Be glad that I am willing to give that much, and give me a place to send the money that isn’t Russia!

By: Paul

Paul — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 15:22:54 +0000

I agree a fair amount of money should go to the artist & label, If it’s a case of cutting out the middle man to bring the costs down maybe that is the answer. Have every artist & label catalogued on a site funded by advertising but not actually serlling the tracks themself then the user is redirected to buy direct from the artists site essentially paying only the artist and their representitive label directly.

Costwise nowadays I think 15c is a little low and 99c to high. We should now be aiming for something inbetween, maybe 40-50c

By: Charlie

Charlie — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 06:33:52 +0000

Sorry about the double post.

@Xavian

Your analogy is also off, it would be more akin to purchasing a stolen TV from someone. The music is taken without permission and onsold. At the very least you would have to surrender the TV.

By: Charlie

Charlie — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 06:27:13 +0000

Music from a very small label in my city has been taken and put up for sale on these russian sites, how are they to get their money? Your hat analogy is a little off though. Unless that hat was stolen property in the first place? Or that hat was illegal in the US.

By: Scatterblak

Scatterblak — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 03:45:42 +0000

======================================
These sites are illegal.

I’ve found my music, which I self-produced and self-distribute, on sale on Russian sites. I do not have any contracts for electronic sale (I do not sell mp3s through iTunes, etc.) and I do not receive any money. They stole my music and they sell it.

How the fuck is that legal?
======================================

Wrong. Never confuse unfair with illegal. If there are no laws against someone else coming into possission of a tune you wrote and selling it, then it’s not illegal. A song or a melody isn’t a possession everywhere in the world, and there are plenty of countries where someone could grab your tunes, repackage them and sell them through Russian (or whoever) websites, and not be in violation of any international laws.

Until musicians in general start treating music as a business instead of just as an art, you’ll hear more and more complaining along these lines. The world doesn’t work that way anymore – if you find your tunes for sale on a Russian site (Which I also did – on mp3sale.ru, before it went away), leverage it for marketing. Issue a press release. Use it to generate media interest. In the mean time, keep this in mind — no matter how unfair it seems, no matter how mad you get, the sites simply aren’t illegal. Quit complaining and brush up on international copyright law, and quit just spounting ‘oh, they’re illegal!’ crap on the boards.

By: Gardiner

Gardiner — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 03:06:12 +0000

Most music blows balls which is why so many artists are hurting financially. Take a look at Phish and Grateful Dead. They allowed tapers at each show and never went after any recordings on-line, in fact, they tacitly encouraged it. How is it possible to know that a downloader who obtained a song “illegally” had any intention of buying it in the first place?

By: Pete (UK)

Pete (UK) — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 23:40:31 +0000

I tend to avoid mainstream music and mostly buy ambient and electronic music from small netlabels or direct from the musician. Prices are generally in the region of £3-5 ($6-10) and I pay it gladly and would rather do that than buy from dodgy sites although I have done that for uber rare stuff I can’t find elsewhere. I bought one DRM album from itunes and ripped it to strip out the DRM because I want to play it anywhere and I want to put it on my daughters MP3 player and on mine. I won’t buy from Apple again. Their service is a rip off with prices higher than CD’s delivered from play.com or amazon. How the fuck can that be? The industry ripped the public off for years and are still doing it. Seems they’re not so keen to get fucked in the arse themselves.

By: Xavian

Xavian — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 20:04:19 +0000

The sites are illegal, but it is not illegal for a person from the U.S. to use them.
It is NOT the resposibility of the consumer to pay royalties.
Say you bought a TV from bestbuy, can you be arrested if Bestbuy did not send in the sales tax on your item…NO, not your problem!

By: Noize

Noize — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 19:26:02 +0000

I think the RIAA are suing people for SHARING music, not downloading it.

I don’t know regarding the U.S., but in Canada, it falls under the terms of “private copying” and is perfectly legal since 1998. (Downloading is legal, not sharing).

Here are some details :

The 1998 amendment provided for the payment of a private copying levy to various copyright holders on the sale of “blank audio recording media”, in exchange for the “legalization” of private copying. “Private copying” occurs when individuals copy recorded music for their own personal use. There is no requirement that the source copy be a non-infringing copy. Therefore, the private copying regime applies to all private copying of sound recordings onto audio recording media, regardless of their source. For example, the source copy could be a pre-recorded audiocassette purchased at a music store, a borrowed or stolen CD, or an MP3 downloaded from the Internet.

By: JOE

JOE — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 22:06:13 +0000

GOOD Question JANO, the riaa is sueing people who cant afford to defend themselves. That one lady TONYA or something got her case dismissed w/ prejudice. that meant that she could sue for attorny’s fees or something. any way they paid her attorny’s fees, OVER $68,000!!!! So what happens when they come knocking at Grandma Helga’s house, she doesn’t even own a TV, let alone a computer, no email or ip address, and they say “Listen ya ol’ bitch, we gonna sue your ass for downloadin music. You can settle with us for $3,000 out of court, or we can take it to a judge (of course her attorney will win but it will cost her $68,000).” NOW WHAT?! thats called legalized extortion.

Someone needs to fuck the RIAA in the ass with no jelly. Like how about a young lawyer, who just passed the bar and wants to make a name for himself while he stilll lives at home with mommy and dadddy, takes on a classaction lawsuit against the RIAA. Every 13 year old kid in america sues for intimidation, RICO, and all sorts of shit! BYE BYE RIAA, Helloooo new lawyer with the big name! Almost turns me on.