Fergie's Tech Blog

AllofMP3 Hosts Its First Press Conference

Nate Anderson writes on ARS Technica:

In an effort at greater transparency (and to counter recent criticism by US Trade Representative Susan Schwab), AllofMP3.com hosted a virtual press conference today at which it took questions from journalists about its business model and legal dispute with record labels. Unfortunately, what emerged was a mass of contradictory information.

The Russian site, which offers two-dollar downloads of major-label albums, says that it wants to support artists. In response to a question from Ars Technica, Director General Vadim Mamotin said that his company pays 15 percent of its earnings to ROMS (the Russian Multimedia and Internet Society), from whom AllofMP3 has a license to sell digital music. Copyright holders in both the UK and the US assert that they have not seen a dime from the site. AllofMP3 simply asserts that "it's ROMS responsibility to compensate the appropriate copyright holders." Where's the money going? No one knows, and AllofMP3 provided no details or explanation.

posted by Fergie @ 10/17/2006 11:47:00 AM