Links to AllofMP3 forbidden by the Munich court

AllofMP3 is a music download service based in Russia. You can buy MP3's for as little as €0.03 per track. The service doesn't pay royalties to artists and record companies because the copyright laws are different in Russia.

The Munich District Court recently issued an injunction against AllofMP3 prohibiting them from distributing content protected by German copyright. As a result of this ruling a number of record companies have started sending warning letters to the operators of German websites which link to AllofMP3.

The letters are being sent by the Munich law firm, Waldorf, on behalf of the record companies. The fine for non-removal of a link to AllofMP3 by private persons is €75,000. Apparently less than 10 warning letters have been sent so far.

Interestingly this story is currently being reported on heise.de. In that article they say that such links are illegal, yet they nonetheless include just such a link in the article itself. Clearly they think this new ruling is a farce.

The record companies involved are edel, EMI, Sony BMG Music, SPV, Universal Music und Warner Music. The lawyers in Munich are:

Rechtsanwalt Johannes Waldorf
Kanzlei Waldorf Rechtsanwälte
Beethovenstrasse 12
80336 München

Wow! allofmp3 is indeed an amazing thing. Banning the links is no big deal, although more of an issue is if they can get the German ISP's to block access to the domain, although I would think that is very unlikely myself? Especially as of course only a % of music on the site is German. I have never seen a single site blocked by an ISP?

A, er, good friend of mine uses allofMP3 for much of his, uh, her downloading. CD-quality tracks for only a few cents, and very fast downloading. Needless to say, I condemn such action and urge everyone to pay the record industry's inflated prices and rip-off licensing agreements.

Heise does NOT say that such links are illegal. Heise's article is about their fight through the courts for freedom of the press (and other people!) to link to things that the music industry is trying to forbid.

From the heise article linked above, the music industry lawyers apparently claim:


"Setting a link makes illegal downloads possible." What a ridiculous position. Even if nobody linked there, anyone could type in the address. "Supporting illegal activities?" Ha. The fellow who published an online satire of neonazis was also allowed to link to neonazi websites because of the context -- he was not "supporting" them in any way.

I think the courts at some point are just going to have to accept that links cannot be illegal. Catch up with the real world.

Yeah ok, so that's already obviously a satire and a strike for freedom of the press. I looked at the site and it didn't look suspicious except for it being offered also in Russian -- which is racist or something I'm sure. Edit: racist of me to say that, not racist of the site to offer things in Russian. Whew, that was close.

There is nothing suspicious about the site, it does exactly what it says on the label. The website is also in Russian because it's based in, er, Russia.

Right, that's the inherently suspicious bit.

Lots of MP3 sites are based in Russia because the licensing laws are different there. It is actually perfectly legal to download from AllofMP3 or similar sites providing you are in Russia at the time. If you're not in Russia, then you are infringing copyright and it's illegal, as I keep reminding this good friend of mine. I guess it's in English for the benefit of all the non-Russian speakers who travel to Russia in order to download the new Coldplay album.

AllOfMp3 has been shut down by the Russian government. Pressure from the U.S., the RIAA, and a refusal to enter the World Trade Organisation (WTO) convinced the Kremlin to take the website down for good.

Fortunately the site still lives on, but under the new names of "MP3Sparks" and "Mp3Sugar". They're both the same sites, run by the same company, and offering the same service.

I myself still had €15 credit on AllOfMp3. I just logged into Mp3Sparks, however, and was pleased to see that not only did my old username still work, but even the credit had been carried over.

It's been mentioned elsewhere that although AllOfMp3/Mp3Sparks is accessible in Germany, your German credit cards will not be processed. They continue to work for me just fine though.

Ah well, one down, at least another twenty left. Another hollow victory for the RIAA.

List of Russian MP3 sites with English interface

Looks like AllofMP3 will soon be back with us. See BBC: Russian music site to 'relaunch'.

I found an alternative in the meantime, but it was pretty shit. Smaller catalogue and very disorganised.