If you have recently stumbled upon a social media ad, a banner pop-up, or a forum thread advertising a “Thirty Dollar Website Song Download,” you are likely confused—and justifiably so. In an era where streaming subscriptions cost $11.99 a month and a single high-quality WAV file from a major artist can run you $1.29 on iTunes, the promise of an entire website dedicated to songs for a flat fee of thirty dollars sounds either like the deal of the century or a digital nightmare waiting to happen.

But what exactly is this offer? Is it legal? What kind of music do you actually get? And most importantly, should you hand over your credit card information?

Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), downloading unlicensed music is civil infringement. Statutory damages range from $750 to $150,000 per work . While you likely won't get sued for downloading a Taylor Swift album from a $30 site, the risk is non-zero.