Allofmp3 Interview
January 17, 2004
Allofmp3 is a music service that causes many discussions. Vadim Medved'ev, content manager of Allofmp3, was willing to answer all our questions.
Museekster: The number one question for everyone that hears of Allofmp3 is: "Is this really a legal service". Can your clarify the situation on copyrights in Russia?
Allofmp3: We work in compliance with ROMS license (www.roms.ru/romseng/). All the materials at Allofmp3.com are available for downloading through the Internet in compliance with the license number LS-3M-03-79. Further use of the downloaded materials is possible only for personal purposes.
Museekster: Are artists compensated for the downloads and how does this work in Russia?
Allofmp3: We pay monthly deductions to ROMS. The distribution of the royalties to the authors fully depends on ROMS. ROMS (as well as RAO) distributes the royalties based on sales amount.
Museekster: How does Allofmp3 obtain the music, do you buy and rip albums yourself?
Allofmp3: We buy official compact discs ourselves. We store audio materials in compliance with chosen quality norms. Our users may send us audio tracks (and get for that a recompense) if these audio materials match our quality requirements.
Museekster: What is the basis of the online encoding system? Do you store the original files as a WAV or do you use high bitrate mp3's to begin with?
Allofmp3: The tracks are encoded with the Lame encoder to 384 kbps MP3 with maximal quality.
Museekster: The Wanted Program at your
website is considered highly illegal. How can Allofmp3 get away with
this? What is the legal basis of this program according to Russian law?
Allofmp3: We are aware of the fact that uploading tracks may be illegal according to the laws in the country of the customer. That is entirely his own responsibility. Allofmp3 is allowed to use this tracks for our service according to Russian legislation as long as we pay the copyrights to ROMS.
Museekster: The Wanted Program may lead to low quality rips Do you check the quality of the files you get through the Wanted Program and how do you check this?
Allofmp3: We check each MP3 we get from a user. The checking is performed using our internal facilities.
Museekster: Has Allofmp3 been attacked by the RIAA or similar organizations and how have you been able to stand against these actions?
Allofmp3: We have not been attacked. We do not oppose our service to any other services or organizations. We work within the limits of existing legislation and follow ROMS instructions. ROMS solves all disputed questions and claims of different organizations.
Museekster: Does the temporary closure of your PayPal payment method have anything to do with legal steps against Allofmp3 in the USA?
Allofmp3: No, it was your internal difficulty. We solved the problem and now PayPal service is available again for all Allofmp3.com users.
Museekster: Sometimes the server is overcrowded and unavailable. Are you working on getting more server capacity?
Allofmp3: We are continuously working on improvement of our services.
Museekster: Let's look into the future of Allofmp3. What can we expect?
Allofmp3: You should expect extension and increasing of our catalogue. As to the innovations - will see in the future.
Museekster: Do you have anything to add to our readers?
Allofmp3: All the best to you and feel confidently. Feel free to ask questions and turn to our Technical support. But also always look into Help section before - maybe it will answer your questions.
We thank Vadim Medved'ev for taking time to answer our questions.
More info on Allofmp3 and legal issues is available at this page