Visa Halts its Service for allofmp3.com

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Greg Sandoval[Edit][Delete]: Visa Halts its Service for allofmp3.com, CNet News.Com [Edit][Delete]CNET News.com [Edit][Delete]CNet News.com [Edit][Delete]CNet news.Com [Edit][Delete] October 20, 2006
The Russian service allogmp3.com offers MP3 downloads at popular music for discount prices - usually about 15 cents per song, rather than the usual 99 cents. It pays royalties on this music to the Russian equivalent of royalty collection companies, however, the music industry has refused to accept these payments. The dispute is not over whether artists are being paid but rather about control. That's what the article means by 'unlicensed'. But it's not illegal in Russia and Visa may need to think twice about its actions here, as people depend on it to guarante transactions, not to act as some sort of self-appointed arm for a sectarian view of copyright law'. More...