James Delahunty
28 Oct 2011 9:16
RIAA submits report on "notorious markets".
First in the firing line for the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) was VKontakte, a Russian social networking website. It claims that the social site's unlicensed music service is undermining the growth of the legitimate music marketplace.
VKontakte touts more than 120 million registered users, and is ranked amongst the most visited websites within Russia, and also is listed among the top 50 globally.
The trade group said that VKontakte's music functionality is ?specifically designed to enable members to upload music and video files, hundreds of thousands of which contain unlicensed copyright works. Its dedicated content search engine enables other members to search and instantly stream unlicensed music and movies, giving VKontakte an unfair competitive edge over other social networks that do not offer free access to unlicensed material."
The RIAA also targeted China's Sogou website, which offers a "Sogou MP3" feature providing access to links to download or stream music from unlicensed sources. Dispelling any claim that it acts just as a search engine, the RIAA points out that Sogou maintains a database of unlicensed music, broken into categories such as "US Billboard Chart," "UK Chart," "Albums TOP 100" and so forth.
"What's particularly offensive about some of these companies is that they intentionally launch music services without any form of licensing as a cynical ploy to gain market share and make more money on the back of artists, labels, songwriters and everyone else involved in the music community," said Neil Turkewitz, Executive Vice President, International.
"Some of the firms we've highlighted have even announced plans to launch U.S.-based IPOs. No company dependent on a theft-based business model deserves the backing of the U.S. capital markets or the approval of the financial regulatory agencies."
The RIAA report also went further to highlight cyberlocker services, such as MegaUpload, which is claims are extensively involved in the storage and trading of copyright works, while pocketing significant advertising revenue.