Kuro, a P2P (peer to peer) on-line music platform, on October 16 announced a strategic alliance with Yahoo! Kimo, the largest web portal in Taiwan, in which Yahoo!Kimo will temporarily offer music services to Kuro members until Kuro establishes a new on-line music platform in about two months.
Fashionow Taiwan, the original operator of Kuro, on September 14 settled a dispute over music copyright infringement with IFPI (International Federation of Phonographic Industry) Taiwan by paying a court awarded fine of NT$380 million and terminating existing business operations before October 16, according to the company.
One month prior to the settlement, Fashionow and C-Media Electronics, a Taiwan-based IC design house, established a new joint venture to take over the operation of Kuro, with C-Media chairman Eric Cheng to assume the chairmanship of the new company, according to the two companies. In order to pay the fine, Fashionow on October 16 announced the selling of Kuro to the joint venture for NT$475 million.
The strategic alliance with Yahoo! Kimo is merely for the interim operation of Kuro before the joint venture sets up its new platform, Cheng pointed out. All current 400,000 Kuro members are entitled to use Yahoo! Kimo’s on-line music service, and in a sales promotion, the first 100,000 members can enjoy free downloading of 10 songs, Cheng indicated. The new Kuro platform will integrate software and hardware to improve the on-line music service, Cheng emphasized. If the new platform proves successful, it will be duplicated in the China market, Cheng noted.
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