Russian music download site allofmp3.com was closed. It offered a music download service that offered songs at low prices when compared to similar sites and also claimed to be the second biggest seller of music downloads after iTunes. Allofmp3.com is owned by MediaServices. The company claimed that all was legal under Russian law but was faced with numerous lawsuits coming from USA and UK based record labels on the claims of copyright law violation. The closure of the site is welcomed in the music industry. John Kennedy, president of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industries (IFPI) declared:“Allofmp3.com violated copyright law in Russia and internationally by ripping off artists and creators, taking music that it had no right to reproduce and selling it worldwide. If this is the end of allofmp3.com, this is good news.”
Even the Russian government was involved in this scandal as it was criticized over their lack of action against the web site. The closure of allofmp3.com was even a condition for Russia to become a member of the World Trade Organization in 2006.
Although numerous law suits were started, allofmp3.com continued to claim it pays royalties to a Russian licensed body and said that an online disclaimer made it clear that copyright laws need to be checked in the country of residence of the user before using the web site’s services. The end of it all came with Moscow agreeing to shut down the site, although there is no clear information that Russian authorities had anything to do with this. MediaServices also launched mp3sparks.com, which seems to offer very similar services to allofmp3.com.