I’m trying to get to the bottom of this. I found a website that offers MP3 music for a quite low cost… apparently it’s a Russian website. I’m rooting around trying to figure out how they can charge so little and still be legal, but they say they are licensed by something called ROMS and that ‘‘Site Owner pays license fees for all materials downloaded from the Site subject to the International Copyright Law. Authors, Artists and other Copyright holders including major labels are paid their fair dues.’’
There seems to be some international controversy over the legality of this practice, but I read an article where a similar website was challenged and the Russian government did not press charges. However, I am unable to find much information about this phenomena as a whole, other than random posts with no credibility attached.
I’m one of those people who likes to obey the law… I don’t like getting in trouble.
I am not interested in making this a discussion of the moral implications of downloading music illegally… I am trying to find information about what is going on with the law here. What is the ‘‘catch’’ that allows these Russian sites to operate, is it or is it not actually legal, and is there any way that by downloading from the site, I can be charged with breaking any laws?
Thanks for your time.