In an act of absolutely astounding arrogance, the BPI (British Phonographic Industry), the so-called 'trade' unit owned by Warner Music, Vivendi Universal, EMI and Sony BMG, is demanding that UK foreign secretary Margaret Beckett raises its attempt to crush p2p site AllofMP3.com with Russian president Vladimir Putin at the G8 summit.
The members of the Big Four Organized Music cartel have awarded themselves nationhood status and routinely lecture and hector governments and heads of state for failing to toe the corporate bottom line, also using international enforcement agencies, funded by local taxpayers, as copyright cops.
But this is extreme even for the Big Four.
“BPI Chairman Peter Jamieson said he had written to Mrs Beckett, asking her to 'urge the Russian government to take action against the operators of the site by insisting that it is removed from the internet,” says the BBC.
AllofMP3.com, based in Russia, is an anathema to the cartels representing, as it does, both a form of competition and a perfect example of how, "different markets can, and should, price music according to the public's purchase power," as Fading Ways Music owner Neil Leyton told delegates at the recent Trans Atlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD) conference in Paris, France.
The site charges by file size rather than per item and its rates are far lower than the usurious $1 and Warner Music, Vivendi Universal, EMI and Sony BMG customers are forced to charge for their downloads.
The labels demand, and get, between 60 and 85 cents wholesale for each music file. This means iTunes, for example, wants #9.79 (almost $18.20) for an album where an AllofMP3.comn typically pays only about #0.75 (about $1.40) for a download.
The Big Four idea of a fair charge is to think of a number and double it, and they're currently being investigated for price fixing and bribery at federal and state levels in the US, a fact rarely if ever mentioned by the mainstream media.
Also See: BBC - Call for 'illegal' MP3 site talks, July 14, 2006 told delegates - Paris TACD conference, June 29, 2006 price fixing and bribery - UMG goes down in bribery case, May 12, 2006
