Is allofmp3 and music downloads legal in South Africa?

I have seen some comments on discussion boards claiming allofmp3.com is an illegal service, however these false rumours are always without proper reference and exist only due to negative pressure from US regulators.

Allofmp3.com is legal under Russian law. They are a licensed Russian music dealer (similar to Musica in South Africa) and regularly pay the required 15% of their revenues to the Russian Organization for Multimedia & Digital Systems (ROMS) which is the official Russian regulator. According to ROMS, allofmp3 is fully legal (Click to read interview with museekster.com)

Is allofmp3 legal in South Africa?
In short, yes it is. There is nothing in the copyright act against importing (legal) music from another country for personal use, except for the following out of section 23:
(2) Without derogating from the generality of subsection (1), copyright shall be infringed by any person who, without the licence of the owner of the copyright and at a time when copyright subsists in a work-
(a) imports an article into the Republic for a purpose other than for his private and domestic use;
[http://www.buys.co.za/publications/cyberlaw/CopyrightAct.htm]
The only catch is, once you’ve downloaded it, you are not allowed to copy it. See my post “Copying songs from CD to your iPod illegal in South Africa”

If it is legal, why is the RIAA claiming it is not?
The RIAA is faced with a dilemma, and the only way they know how to solve it is by challenging its legality in order to get rid of it. The cost of a music CD in Russia is much cheaper than in the US in terms of dollars and it would be far too expensive for a Russian citizen to pay the same amount in dollars as an American due to their weak exchange rate ($1 = 26.4 Russian ruble at time of writing). Normally, this would not be a problem since importation used to be limited by physical means. But with the advent of the internet, anyone with an internet connection can now import their music directly from Russia, paying Russian prices for the same product.

Is it safe to pay by credit card?
Yes. When you purchase music from allofmp3, your credit card details are never revealed to them. Instead, you use your credit card to purchase prepaid credit, or vouchers, from a trusted service such as xrost and use that to buy from allofmp3. There has not been a single reported case of credit-card abuse involving allofmp3.

But I heard that artists and labels never see their money, and their music is being sold against their will!
That is only due to fault of their own. The copyright holders simply need to register with ROMS in order to collect their royalties. If they do not like their music being distributed in this way, they may request that distribution of their work in Russia be discontinued and their wishes will be honoured by ROMS and allofmp3.

Unfortunately, money means influence, and the RIAA is known for its underhanded tactics and strong-arming. So support allofmp3 while you still can, maybe distributors will catch the hint and sell us music at prices that’s fair.

Sources:
http://www.museekster.com/allofmp3faq.htm
http://www.allofmp3.com/press/centre.shtml?s=993&d=18191974&afflink=nl13
http://www.buys.co.za/publications/cyberlaw/CopyrightAct.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riaa#Criticism