mp3 Fiesta - who's getting ripped off?
May 24, 2008 6:17 PM   Subscribe

mp3 Fiesta - what's the catch?

A friend told me about mp3fiesta.com. How are they able to sell music so cheaply and how does it affect the artists in terms of royalties etc? If mp3 fiesta can do it for so little, why not iTunes? I mean, it's just so CHEAP! What's the catch?
posted by mooza to Computers & Internet (5 answers total)
 
It's based in Ukraine.
posted by Nattie at 6:25 PM on May 24, 2008


I'm not 100% sure, but my guess is they are the same outfit who runs MP3sparks and AllOfMP3.com. If you do a whois, they're based in Kiev.

The way the other two work is that the company does, in fact, pay royalties to a Russian royalties outfit (Russian Organization for Multimedia and Digital Systems). The artists, and actually, the record companies, probably never see a dime of it. However, it's perfectly legal to use if you're in the US (I don't know about other countries).

RIAA *HATES* them. A lot.

There have been several attempts to shut them down and change the laws, but to date nothing has been (completely) successful.

You can read all about AllOfMP3 on their wikipedia page.
posted by vertigo25 at 6:30 PM on May 24, 2008


It seems that their certificate isn't valid when you try to create a new account? Not a proper signing authority, according to Safari
posted by Pants! at 10:48 AM on May 25, 2008


It does have the same "balance" concept that wikipedia says MP3sparks used.
posted by Pants! at 10:49 AM on May 25, 2008


Mp3sparks was the rollover from allofmp3. When allofmp3 got shut down, the accounts, balances and catalog reappeared at mp3sparks. Allofmp3.com was supposed to be resurrected as allofmp3.ru, but never made it. Both sparks and allofmp3 have had hosting problems in the past. I don't think mp3fiesta is from the same people who did sparks or allofmp3.

Mp3fiesta (and mp3sale.ru) are alternate sites recommended on the aom3.org forum. Keep in mind that these type of sites are definitely a gray market. The artists are very likely not receiving royalties from the sales. Visit the aom3 forum for more detailed info on these sites.
posted by forrest at 7:28 PM on May 25, 2008


« Older Oh, boy, parallel universe #57339! That's where...   |   But I LOVE electionfilter! Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.