Blackmoor Vituperative

The campaign against AllofMP3.com has been going on for some time already. The site has been a target for abundant accusations, threats, lies, lobbying, etc.

Just to give an example: “The reason AllofMP3.com downloads are cheap, is that neither the artists nor the record companies are being paid” said the BPI General Counsel Roz Groome in April.

So the industry assumes that the site’s price for music is too low for it to be legal and for artists to be compensated. However, the same (or even lower) price per track is being charged at a legal Chinese service top100.cn. It was launched some 8 months ago and has not received much press in the West, apart from the initial press release and recent news about Orchard licensing its catalogue to the biggest legal Chinese download service. “For just one yuan per song (that is 12 cents), mainland consumers could buy anything from The Beatles to Britney Spears” (South China Morning Post). “top100.cn has gained full supports from international and local music industry, international and local copyrights societies, and also Chinese government… John Kennedy, Chairman of IFPI, said to CEO Gary G. Chen in a meeting: we are keen to see your service available in China as soon as possible… top100.cn entered into licensing agreements with major music labels, such as EMI, SonyBMG and also international and domestic independent record labels, like Sanctuary Record Group, China Record Corporation, and many others.” (press release at www.newswiretoday.com)

(from allofmp3.blogs, Album Reviews, Music News and users journals)

It shouldn’t be too surprising that BPI, IFPI and their ilk would ally themselves with China. Birds of a feather flock together.