And yes, there’s a difference.

I started researching AllOfMP3 about a month ago after hearing about it for the first time from a friend, while at their place for dinner. I read through all the spiel, the Russian Federation, Russian Licensing, The Russian Multimedia and Internet Society (ROMS), lawsuits, et cetera.

One of the best presented articles on the legality and ethicality of using a site like AllOfMP3 was a piece that I found here.

I’ve been looking to find new ways to purchase music (yes, I have been using the iTunes Music Store) mostly because I find that music, as a commodity, is priced way too high. Well, maybe it’s not even that the music is priced too high, but what really bothers me is knowing that the amount of cash that actually returns to the pockets of the musicians any time I happen to purchase an album is a measly pittance, compared to the amount that goes to the labels. To add insult to injury, we have this “association” (I’m looking at you, RIAA) that in its so-called pursuit of justice starts to randomly sue thousands of Americans whose names they might as well have pulled from a baseball cap. Didn’t they try to sue an 11-year-old girl? And a dead person? At any rate, the RIAA clowns think that it would make them look really smart if they seriously laid the smack down on AllOfMP3 with a $1.65 TRILLION dollar lawsuit, which in actuality (in my opinion, anyways) made them look like confounding idiots more than anything.

At any rate, now that I’ve made clear my disdain for record labels and the RIAA, I’d like to point out that I find it interesting the number of discussions floating around on the Internet about the issue of whether or not it’s “OK” to download music from a “legal” service like AllOfMP3.

What I notice is that there is a severe muddying of the water as people discuss this, because most people take the approach that if something is legal, that there is no reason whatsoever that they should feel as though it is ethically or morally questionable to purchase music from a company like AllOfMP3. To be honest, I have been seriously toying with the idea for the past few weeks, and probably can’t count the number of times I’ve visited, wanting to sign up, but ultimately deciding against it. And today I think I’ve reached my conclusion that even though I feel that the way that AllOfMP3 is operating their business in Russia is probably legal, it’s certainly not ethical. Granted, I don’t think that the RIAA or record labels in general treat people, customers or artists with any sort of decency either, generally speaking. But using the questionable ethics of the RIAA and record labels as they shaft artists and sue customers as a personal excuse to justify purchasing music from a company that is shady at best, ethically and legally, is just jumping into the mud with them.

In a way it’s frustrating. It’s frustrating that the most ethical way to purchase music puts money in the hands of the grimy RIAA and record labels much more so than in the hands of the artists whose music we love. But regardless of that fact, I’ll be continuing to give Apple my money for my music purchases for the foreseeable future.