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The IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry), the industry's leading international body, has prompted two criminal prosecutions of Allofmp3's owner, MediaServices. The public prosecutor in Moscow is taking a former director of MediaServices to trial while a second case against a current director of the company is in the investigation phase.

The IFPI says that the site is selling music without the permission of the copyright holders and that none of the money that it makes is going to the artists.

'AllofMP3.com is not a legal service

'Unlike all the legitimate sites, it does not pay artists or copyright holders so it is effectively stealing from those who create music,' he said. 'Like most things that appear to be too good to be true, AllofMP3.com is not what it seems.'

MediaServices claims that has legitimate licences under Russian law and is not responsible for the actions of foreign users. It says that it pays a fee to the Russian Multimedia and Internet Society (ROMS), which distributes it as royalties to copyright holders.

But Rechardt said that ROMS has no right to grant Allofmp3 a licence.

'ROMS has no rights from the record companies whatsoever to licence these pieces of music,' he said. 'ROMS and AllofMP3.com are well aware that record companies have not granted authorisation for this service.'

The website has already been ruled illegal in Germany and Italy and Out-law warns that anyone in the UK who buys music from the site is in breach of copyright.