Soribada Launches First Open Legal P2P Music Subscription Service

Filed in archive Companies , International on July 13, 2006

The Korean Association of Phonogram Producers successfully forced most P2P services there to stop unauthorized file sharing, including the largest service, Soribada.

Soribada has now launched its legal paid service. Previously albums were about $.03 with no payments to artists. Now individual MP3 songs can be downloaded for about $.53 with an unlimited monthly subscription for about $3.17. Soribada filters music files and aims to convert 10% of its 15 million users. That would result in over $50 million in revenues.

It's an excellent plan, even with the unnecessary filtering. If you download the equivalent of several albums a month, it's a better deal than allofmp3.com, assuming the Koren entertainment industry doesn't pollute the P2P network with bogus files.

P2P developers in the U.S. and elsewhere have long fought for a similar legal service. RIAA will not allow it here anytime soon.