No other Music Service raises this much questions, because it just seems to good to be true. Here are some answers on frequently asked questions. 

Did Russia shut down Allofmp3?

Is Allofmp3 legal?

Is using Allofmp3 legal in my country?

How can Allofmp3 be this cheap?

What about the artists? Do they get paid?

Is it safe to pay by credit card?

How can I pay to Allofmp3?

How can Allofmp3 legally offer Beatles and Metallica music?

Will the RIAA or the IFPI have Allofmp3 closed down in the near future?

Did Russia shut down Allofmp3?

Not quite. This is what has happened so far.

June 27, 2007 Allofmp3 announced that they were moving to their old address www.allofmp3.ru. Allofmp3.ru was working fine for a few hours but started showing the message "We are sorry but the server is closed for maintainance". A day later the URL www.allofmp3.com was dead.

Meanwhile MediaServices the company behind Allofmp3 started a new website called MP3sparks. This website has exactly the same catalogue and features as Allofmp3.

As of the first of July more and more Allofmp3 users reported they can log in at MP3Sparks with their Allofmp3 username and password. Their account info and balance has been transferred. They could even fund their accounts again using all major credit cards and use the Alltunes application for downloading.

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MP3Sparks.com suddenly disappeared for about 10 days, what made many believe that MP3Sparks was over and out, but as of July 13, 2007 MP3Sparks is back online.

"We'll be back!"
And for those who think that Allofmp3 is gone forever, read the news at the Allofmp3 official blogs.

Use the back door to access the Allofmp3 collection
The Alltunes application is still working so even if you cannot access MP3Sparks.com or Allofmp3.ru at the time, you can still download and maybe fund your account with the Alltunes application.

Just download and install Alltunes, login with your Allofmp3 account details and you are in.

Is Allofmp3 legal?

The most frequently asked question. We were one of the few sites that could answer this question, but Allofmp3 has recently published a detailed answer of their own. It explains all details of the current legislation in Russia. Read The Legality of the AllOfMP3 pay service. A must read!

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The legal status of Allofmp3

Russian Copyright Law allows collecting societies to give out licenses for selling music without prior approval of every single right holder. A copyright owner however can ask to exclude music from these licenses on the condition that he can prove he owns the copyrights.

Allofmp3 has been licensed by the collecting society, Russian Organization for Multimedia & Digital Systems (ROMS).  According to license № ЛС-ЗМ-02-36 the Internet-project www.allofmp3.com, has the right to use musical compositions by providing downloads. Under the license agreement Allofmp3 pays out fees (15% for all music) to ROMS for downloaded materials that are subject to the Russian Federation Copyright And Related Rights Law. 

ROMS manages intellectual rights in the Russian Federation. All third party distributors licensed by ROMS are required to pay a portion of the revenue (15%) to the ROMS. ROMS in turn, is obligated to pay most of that money (aside from small portion it needs for operating expenses) to rights holders who have registered, both Russian and foreign. Recently Allofmp3 has also obtained a license from FAIR (Rights holders Federation for Collective Copyright Management of Works Used Interactively).

Interview with Allofmp3
In 2004 we have interviewed the content manager of Allofmp3, Vadim Medved'ev. He provided us with some useful information. Read the interview.

Interview with ROMS
The same year Roman Bahanets of ROMS has answered our questions with regard to ROMS and the Russian Legal Music Services. He clearly states that Allofmp3 is a fully legal operation. Read our interview.

The Music Industry's point of view

March 18, 2004 the IFPI spoke fore the first time. Alan Dixon, general counsel of the IFPI explained their position in an article on Guardian.co.uk

May 5, 2004 IFPI Russia's legal adviser, Vladimir Dragunov, admitted that legal actions don't have much chance of succeeding. Read more

In an article at www.cnn.com, published June 2, 2006, Igor Pozhitkov of the IFPI says that according to IFPI's lawyers, agencies such as ROMS do not need to seek permission from right holders if they are licensing the broadcasting, performance or transmission of works by cable -- but they do if it concerns their sale over the Internet.

The IFPI and RIAA somehow arranged that United States trade negotiators warned that the Web site could jeopardize Russia's long-sought entry into the World Trade Organization.

June 2nd, 2006, the IFPI published the article "Setting the record straight", stating that Allofmp3.com is not a legal service either in Russia or anywhere else.

Allofmp3 responds with a press release June 6, 2006 in which Allofmp3 defends its legality and announces to aim to agree with all right holders before September 1, 2006, when new copyright legislation came into effect.

In this video Ilya Levitov from Allofmp3 explains why Allofmp3 is legal in Russia.

October 17, 2006 Allofmp3 organized an on-line press conference during which reporters from all over the world were able to ask questions to Vadim Mamotin, Director General of Mediaservices, Allofmp3's parent company. You can read the transcript of this press conference on this page

October 18, 2006 the Music Industry somehow managed that now both Mastercard and Visa are boycotting Allofmp3.com. I remains to be seen if this will effectively cut the flow of incoming cash, because credit card payments can still be made via Alltunes and Xrost.

Is it legal to download music from Allofmp3?

It is impossible to give an answer that applies to every country. It totally depends on your local legislation. In some countries you can legally download music from these services as long as the music is for private use. In most countries the situation is unclear. Some say you can, others say you cannot. That is how lawyers earn money; they can defend just about any theory. It is up to a judge to decide who is right. As far as we know no steps have been taken against users.

Wikipedia offers extensive but rather hard to grasp information on this subject.  Allofmp3 also answers this question in their legality faq and in a statement. 

How can Allofmp3 be this cheap?

Copyright organizations in Russia, unlike most of their colleagues abroad, are willing to close favorable deals with online music services. For one thing copyrights for downloads in Russia are more or less equal to the rights radio stations have to pay for broadcasting music. 

But the most important factor is that one US dollar is worth lots of rubles. In Russia CDs cost about 100 rubles ($3). So to Russians Allofmp3 is in fact almost as expensive as iTunes to Americans.

Is it safe to pay by credit card? 

"I am not going to let my credit card number fall into the hands of Russian mafia". A phrase that appears in almost any discussion about Allofmp3.

This is absolute nonsense. Credit card payments are processed by Chronopay, a third party payment processor in The Netherlands. This company is verified by companies like Mastercard and Visa.

We have been in contact with lots of users. No one has ever reported credit card abuse as a result of payments made to Allofmp3. You are quite safe using your credit card with this company.

How to pay now I cannot use my credit card?

Direct payments by credit card to Allofmp3 have been blocked. The music industry has 'persuaded' Visa and MasterCard to stop processing payments to Allofmp3. It looks like paying through Xrost has also been cancelled. Many believe that it is now impossible to refill your balance.  But there are ways. You can find some options at this page.

How can Allofmp3 legally offer Beatles and Metallica music?

The Beatles and Metallica have not authorized their music to be sold online for anyone. Yet Allofmp3 offers about any Beatles and Metallica album ever released. 

There are two reasons:

This explains why Allofmp3 can offer music that is not licensed for downloading in the US and Europe, like music by The Beatles or Metallica. 

Artists and labels claim that they do not receive royalties from ROMS

Right holders have to sign an agreement with ROMS to be able to collect their royalties. Probably artists and labels from outside Russia refuse to sign an agreement or are advised by their lawyers to refrain from addressing ROMS because this could be deemed as an acknowledgment of ROMS' position as a collection society.

"According to Section 2 of Clause 47 of the Law of Russian Federation on Copyright and Related Rights, any owner of copyright or related rights that has concluded an agreement with ROMS, has the right to demand due compensation according to the distribution performed by ROMS." See www.roms.ru/?fms=2


In the aforementioned press conference Allofmp3 explained that ROMS has offered labels to pay out the royalties. The labels have refused this offer. So the money is there waiting to be collected.

Will the RIAA or the IFPI have Allofmp3 closed down in the near future?

So far legal measures have been unsuccessful.

Friday 4th March 2005 prime-tass.ru published that the Moscow prosecutors rejected to initiate a criminal case against Allofmp3.

November 2005 Universal Music initiated a lawsuit in Russia but was unable to prove its intellectual property rights to the music. Universal Music revoked its claim, they were not able to have the works excluded from ROMS' licenses. A clear shot in the foot, because according to Allofmp3 this prevents Universal from starting any further court cases in Russia with regard to the music. See chapter 16 in Allofmp3's faq.

"Allofmp3 has not been found by any court in the world to be in violation of any law," the company stated in a press conference. That argument may have merit, since the Music Industry obviously bets on more obscure methods than legal procedures.

11-29-2006; The US Government reached an agreement with Russian authorities on the objective of shutting down websites that permit illegal distribution of music and other copyright works. Allofmp3.com is named as an example of such a website. The end of Allofmp3 seems near but it may take more time than you think. 

The agreement has this interesting paragraph:

work actively with the Duma to enact by June, 2007:
amendments to the law to provide that collecting societies may act only on behalf of rights holders that explicitly authorize such action

It will take amendments to the current laws to have the licenses issued by ROMS declared illegal. So Allofmp3 is right! They are legal, at least until Russian laws have been changed.

12-01-2007; Allofmp3 publishes a statement regarding the WTO negotiations:

Russia has undertaken obligations to take certain measures to shut down illegal websites. AllofMP3.com has been listed as an example. We believe it's a misunderstanding arising from biased misleading information presented to the WTO negotiation teams from Russia and USA. AllofMP3.com operates in full compliance with Russian laws which has been confirmed by well-known law firms. In this regard, we believe that the site cannot be forced to cease its activities due to Russia’s entry to WTO unless Russian legislation undergoes significant changes.

August 15 2007 a district court in Moscow ruled that AllofMP3.com operated within the bounds of Russian law. The court found no infringement of copyright law. According to the statement from the judge the site had paid a certain amount of the revenue to the right holders in full compliance with the law.

IFPI protested against this court ruling but without success. October 24 a district court in Moscow declined the protest and confirmed the “no copyright infringement” verdict. This time IFPI promised to go as far as the Supreme Court.

To be continued.....