With music downloading sites beginning to charge subscribers for their file-swapping services, the debate continues as to whether companies should be allowed to profit from peer-to-peer (P2P) music trading on the Internet.
The operators of Soribada (www.soribada.com), the country’s largest peer-to-peer network with more than 15 million users, this week started to charge subscribers a monthly fee of 3,000 won ($3), or another option of 500 won to access their music file sharing services, previously provided for free since the company’s establishment in 2000.
Soribada was heavily pressured by local recording companies and the Korean Association of Phonogram Producers (KAPP). They claimed that free file-swapping services have hurt record sales.
Soribada lost a major legal battle with KAPP last year, when the Seoul Central District Court ordered the Internet company to scrap its free service model and charge subscribers for copyrighted music.
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