It was musical while it lasted, but it’s done - AllofMP3.com is finally sunk by the likes of the RIAA. AllofMP3.com was an inexpensive way to get your music legally online. But its status as a legal source of online music has long been a grey area. AllofMP3.com was technically never breaking Russian laws. But the Kremlin has been criticized for being perceived as soft on its native piracy. So, Moscow finally clamped down in fear of seeing its place on the WTO (World Trade Organization) in jeopardy.

The site was shut down quietly last week. German Gref, the Russian Minister of Trade and Economic Development signed an agreement in October that pledged to shutdown the site that the RIAA calls the world’s largest collection of pirated music.

AllofMp3.com’s argument is that it was not a place of piracy, that it was a legitimate business paying royalties for the music it resold. The trouble with that claim is that the western music companies refused to accept the fees from the Russian Multimedia and Internet Society to which AllofMP3.com was paying royalties. The parent company of AllofMP3.com, MediaServices had their accounts pulled with MasterCard and Visa who no longer accept transactions with the legally ambiguous media reseller.

AllofMP3.com is Dead – Long Live MP3Sparks.com

MediaServices isn’t done just yet. In a move that is sure to spark even more controversy the company that ran AllofMp3.com has opened another online music distributor, MP3Sparks.com. The site is almost identical to AllofMp3.com, but MediaServices claims this one adheres to Russian laws. Still no sign of MasterCard or Visa.