AllOfMP3.com troubles in future?

[AlecWest]

I remember reading an interview with Vadim Mamotin a while back. He's the CIO for Media Services, Inc. - the parent corporation behind AllOfMP3.com. In it, he mentioned that Media Services was in a strategic partnership with the Samsung Corporation. This gave me hope that AllOfMP3.com could possibly weather the storm of controversy. While the music industry has lots of money, so does Samsung, Korea's electronics giant. And if Samsung had a vested interest in AllOfMP3.com's survival, I figured that might be the linch-pin of leverage needed to keep it alive.

But now, there's a chink in that armor:

http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200510/200510300005.html

I wonder if this news story means that Samsung is abandoning its relationship with Media Services ... or if they're using their partnership influence to "legitimize" AllOfMP3.com in a future incarnation? In either case, I suspect this means that AllOfMP3.com (as we know it now) may not be around for very much longer.

[Faustus]

I don't think Samsung is really what matters here. Apparently it was decided that what was happening is legal under Russian law. A changing of the Laws is that they need to fear.

[AlecWest]

I don't think Samsung is really what matters here. Apparently it was decided that what was happening is legal under Russian law. A changing of the Laws is that they need to fear.

Perhaps. But in this strategic partnership, I'm wondering how much financial support they (AllOfMP3.com) derive from Samsung ... support that may be part of the reason prices are so low. And, if that support was withdrawn, would their prices rise to a point where "legit" services start to seem more competitive?

A changing of the laws is certainly their greatest fear. But changes to their price structure for downloads could have an equally significant effect on their survival. My guess? I suspect that Samsung is not abandoning their partnership with Media Services ... but, perhaps with some political pressure from Russian lawmakers, will attempt to "make nice" with the music industry. While new laws would be an easier solution to the music industry's concerns, there's more than one way to skin a cat.

Time will tell...