Beware of Potentially Deceptive Fee-Based Download Services
Thinking of signing up and paying money to a music download service that looks legitimate and perhaps even claims to be "legal?"
Check our list first.
Unfortunately, some sites may be happy to take your money, and may leave you with the impression that they are legal sources of a full range of music - including the top performers and music labels - but they are not licensed distributors of at least a substantial quantity of mainstream music. In particular, the sites on our list promote themselves in ways that suggest their music catalog is relatively comprehensive, when in fact they appear to have done nothing to license or otherwise ensure the legality of any downloads from the major music labels. Even where these sites include “legal information� cautioning users against illegal downloading, that information is not sufficiently clear, or prominent, or specific to prevent users from mistakenly perceiving the sites as sources of lawful copies of most mainstream music.
In short, if you are an Internet user in the United States and you pay money to one of these services with the intention of being a lawful online music user, you may get less than you bargained for.
