“We think that in the foreseeable future, the prices of online music stores will drop because of the constant pressure from the direction of peer-to-peer networks and their growing popularity and availability,” MediaServices CIO Vadim Mamotin told TechNewsWorld.
In contrast to the unchecked flow of pirate MP3s on file-sharing networks, there are plenty of legit services that offer, at a cost, a wide range of digital music. But while iTunes, Rhapsody, MusicMatch, Napster, Sony Connect and several lesser-known digital music sites are charging roughly US$10.00 per album and roughly US$1.00 per song, another player has emerged on the international scene and is making big waves: MediaServices’ AllofMP3.com.
AllofMP3.com, based in Russia, has been controversial from the get-go, charging for legit music not by the song or by the album, but by the megabyte. The company caters to every kind of musical taste with a huge library of legitimate music. While many have questioned the legality of the service, AllofMP3.com assures its users that the service is above-board legitimate. The cost per song through the service works out to be about 5 cents, with the cost per album works out to be 65 to 75 cents, depending on the album size and the format requested by users.
Many consumers who are accustomed to paying $1.00 per song and a minimum of $10.00 per album typically raise an eyebrow suspiciously at the prospect of such a low-cost service, which offers nearly all its music in AAC, MP3, OGG and several other formats. How can this service be legal? How are artists compensated? How does the RIAA even allow the site to function? And why are users not migrating in droves from the higher-cost services like iTunes and Napster? With these questions in mind, TechNewsWorld turned to MediaServices CIO Vadim Mamotin for an exclusive interview.
A fun read, though this interview does not bring much news. Most questions were already answered in Museeksters interviews with Allofmp3 and ROMS.
One of the things I really doubt is his answer on the number of foreign users. Insignificant???
