Recently I wrote about Amazon.com’s new MP3 download site. I still like it, but I tired of it quickly because the selection of music is lacking. In the space of a month, I downloaded all of the music I wanted, but I wanted more, and they didn’t have it. For example, everyone was talking about the Eagles latest CD, but Amazon did not have it.
Which brings me to MP3 Sparks. This is an AWESOME site. They have an amazing collection of music. Every genre of music including Brazilian music. They have it all. Then all of their music is in MP3 format. This is the most important point. I want to listen to my music on ALL of my musical devices. And lastly, their cost is dirt cheap. I download at 192 kbps, and the cost is about $2 / CD. That’s about 1/4th the price of Amazon, and 1/5th the price of iTunes.
The the huge question is how can they sell the music so cheap and is it legal? The answer is YES, it is legal. This site is based in Russia, and they are exploiting a loophole in their contract with the record labels. Instead of paying a fixed royalty, they are a paying a percentage. Hence they are able to drop their prices. Basifcally, the record labels made a huge mistake, but it is not illegal.
In fact, it is great. At $2/CD, you look at music totally differently. Even if you are not sure whether you might like it, you download it anyhow. At $2/CD, it’s always worth a listen. At dinner conversation, I am always quick to ask people what music they like. Then that night, I download all the music, and have a listen the next day. I love the immediacy of MP3 download. No getting in a car, and driving to the store. You just buy and less then 5 minutes later, you are listening to music.
Of course, the record labels HATE this site. In fact, it used to be called AllofMP3 in 2006. The record labels were unsuccessful in shutting them down. But they applied pressure on the credit card companies, and eventually allofMP3 was unable to accept credit card payments. I personally thought they had shut down, until a friend told me last month of its reincarnation into MP3 Sparks. In fact, my user name, and balance were still in tact! I still had a $28.00 balance, which is right about 14 CD’s.
Although I love this site, their business model is flawed. They really should raise their prices. First, they need more money for marketing. Their awareness is poor, and a little money could pay back in spades. Second, their business model is unsustainable. At some point, the record labels will rightly close the loop hole, and they will need to raise prices. Either way, the artists are not receiving a fair compensation for their efforts. If it were me, I would raise my prices and over pay on my contractual obligations to the record labels.
Check out the site. Their infrastucture is very solid, and I have never had any problems downloading music. Note: I did have some problems using Amazon’s downloader one time. Who knows how long they will be around.
I’ve been using mp3sparks for a few years now. I’ve spent so much money there, I can’t even believe it. Anyways, they stopped their payment options for a while, and then were able to accept Mastercard and diner’s club. Having a Mastercard, I was happy. However, today, I wasn’t able to make a payment with this card and their payment options appear to have changed again. It appears (once you click on either Mastercard or diner’s club) that Visa is also an option again. I tried both visa and MC, and had no luck.
Do you know if it’s a glitch or if they no longer accept these cards?
The reason we were unable to pay with visa for a while was because the record companies applied pressure to Visa and Visa decided they would no longer let people use their card for purchases from this site. I wonder if MC is doing the same thing.
Thanks! If you know the answer, please send me an email.
Hi everyone and thanks for visiting my site.
I believe that right now, MP3 Sparks is having some problems. I cannot get it to work. However, I found a new site that works with Visa just fine. MP3fiesta.com . Check it out and enjoy.
Hi
I have got money in my MP3 Sparks account but cannot access the site, do you know of any problems
Looks like mp3 sparks is down. Does anybody know what happened?
Wellm say bye bye to your (and my) money!
If you used alltunes you can still use your balance
The site seems as though it’s back up and running. Can’t see any information on their site as to why it was down for several weeks, but glad to see it’s up and running again. The remaining balance I had on my account prior is still available. Haven’t tried to replenish my account so not sure how that will go.
Tried to load CC at Mp3 sparks today to see if it would work, Nope. Are you still using MP3fiesta.com without problems?
Yes, MP3Fiesta (http://www.mp3fiesta.com) is working great for me. But I bought a big balance just to be sure in case they have payment problems as well.
Thanks for the info. I’ll try that website instead. Any music recommendations? I have an ecclectic style that includes Jesse Cook to Reggeaton to Country. Always looking to add to my collection of unknowns.
My mate says he thinks the music quality from Fiesta isnt as good as mp3 sparks. Anyone agree?
I’ve switched from mp3sparks/allofmp3 mp3fiesta as there was so many problems with payment methods with sparks.
Fiesta is fine but I’ve found they lack the depth of music and new albums aren’t released on it as quickly as sparks.
But they take debit cards so its all good!
Here’s a great article confirming the legality of Allofmp3.com and mp3sparks.com. RIAA has essentially given up persecuting these Russian companies. Hurray.
http://techdirt.com/articles/20080527/0044331223.shtml
Ok, enough of this crap. While you guys seem to be happy buying stolen albums, all you have to do is do some research on MP3 Sparks and its affiliates to realise its run by the russian mafia. Why do you think all the major record companies sued them for over $1 trillion dollars? These idots have strong links with phishishing scams and child pornography and if any of you fools have given your credit card details to MP3 Sparks then you people deserve all the shit that comes your way as your card details are probably cloned by now.
Anyone who supports MP3 Sparks is an idiot especially the dude that wrote the main article as he clearly has no idea what’s going on. I for one hope MP3 Sparks gets closed down ASAP, and you are all the more stupid for accepting a cheap download, specially due to the links with organized crime which this company clearly has.
Goulash, you seem to be overstressed. Relax! 🙂
I have two words for Goulash: CITATION NEEDED!
Maybe goulash works for the RIAA 🙂 I’ve used more then one credit card with mp3sparks/allofmp3 and never had any problems. I’ve never heard, until you made the claim now, that they are affiliated with any mob activity. The only claim I’ve heard, as was explained in the article, is that they are NOT an illegal site and at worst, are operating in a gray zone, and eventually the laws will probably be changed and they wont be able to operate this way anymore. I have to admit I’m kinda pissed off at them. I haven’t been able to add any money there for over a year and they basically haven’t done crap to try and make it easy for me to do so. All they have is a link to allpay.cc and the whole site is in russian – you’d think in this whole time someone there could put up a page in english explaining how i can give them my money through allpay if they cant manage to accept credit cards. I’ve basically given up on mp3sparks. It’s really too bad – i really like them. but they really dropped the ball.
if you want a cool website for buying music that’s actually fair to the artist, check out magnatune.com. You can pay $10/mo for all you want downloads or download albums at $5 a pop. You can get whatever format you want including uncompressed WAV and HALF the money goes to the artist. If you want to screw the RIAA legally and not screw the artist, this sounds like a good way to do it.