AllOfMP3 Downed By Force

AllOfMP3 hasn’t fooled anyone with its ridiculously low-priced tracks. The site’s operators have claimed repeatedly that middlemen working for the recording industry were remunerated by the sales, despite repeated assertions by members of the RIAA, among other organizations, that they had yet to see any funds from the Russia-based operation. And it would only take an ounce of reason to deduce that no cash had or would ever be transferred from the folks working the store at AllOfMP3 to the studios to the musicians. If it remains in question whether artists get anything from the most legitimate of digital downloads (iTunes Store, Walmart.com, etc.), it’s to be taken as fact that not a single dime is paid to the right people by what has been purported to be the home of the cheapest digital downloads on Earth. (Discounting the P2P arena, of course.)

Many individuals – located in the US, Europe, and elsewhere - purchased music from the source hoping to get by the RIAA’s trackers undetected while paying only a few cents per track. They would cite the transactions that had been registered by AllOfMP3; therefore any wrong that was committed would be on the service’s end of the deal. If push came to shove, they would claim ignorance of wrongdoing, and that the authorities would need to take their grievances to the source of the digital downloads if the transfers were in fact illegally performed.

AllOfMP3 is not based in the US or Europe, however, where nearly all of the major music labels reside. So the only individuals who would take heat from the studios would be Russia’s diplomats, not the site’s owners. There lies the biggest conundrum of all.

So the industry has decided to shelve the politeness and has begun to push and shove against the website. The industry is said to be pursuing an onslaught strategy against AllOfMP3, deluging the site with traffic to stifle any downloads from taking place – and it looks like the tactic is proving effective. Michael Arrington of TechCrunch claimed that at 2:37 AM PST AllOfMP3 remained down (for 8 hours, mind you), and as far as I myself am able to tell at this moment, the barrage of bits thrown at the site remains in motion.

Arrington also made sure to state that AllOfMP3’s sister site, AllTunes, remained active and accessible, which we can corroborate presently (4:00 PM EST).

There’s no telling whether the owners and operators of AllOfMP3 will simply open multiple storefronts to hold off the attacks, but as quickly as they sprout, music industry itself will likely make attempts them bring down, too.

Let’s be clear that there is no one entirely in the right at this point. AllOfMP3 has clearly broken several laws according to RIAA and the intensely-lobbied US Government, though with international boundaries separating the legal systems of the world, there’s no telling what felonies the service – and it’s customers – may be held responsible for.

On the other hand, the recording industry has claimed their entire global customer base to be crooked and contemptible, so it’s simply assumed that AllOfMP3 was a creation which emanated from frustration over unfair restrictions on legally-purchased media and the suspicion of anyone and everyone using things like peer-to-peer channels on the Web. It’s ended up a business operating legitimately on the basis of a few technicalities while at the same time steeped in a bog of unfairness. Why unfairness? If the recording industry isn’t getting paid, and the artists are not getting paid, why should AllOfMP3’s customers pay for the music available via the website?

Considering the latest turn of events, it’s safe to assume AllOfMP3 will not return to its “glory days”, but the recording industry will neither continue to disrespect music fans and purchasees of singles, albums – and movies – without repercussions in the form of fewer sales.

Right now it’s anyone’s guess whether AllOfMP3 is to emerge breathing from the attack or to be permanently deactivated.