AllOfMP3 to become legal through buyout?
updated 01:20 pm EST, Fri January 26, 2007
AllOfMP3 Buyout Claims
Infamous online music store AllOfMP3 maybe subverted through a corporate buyout, according to a report today by the research firm Music Ally. The analysts indicate that an as yet unnamed "influential and wealthy" Russian tycoon has been pursuing the direct download shop and intends to legitimize its often questionable licensing scheme by taking control of the company. The businessman is working on behalf of music labels and publishers that believe AllOfMP3's extremely low-priced downloads skirt the edges of its home territory's law, Music Ally's researchers claim. If successful, the takeover would be followed by new licensing deals obtained directly from the labels themselves.
The website has been the subject of intense legal pressure in recent months, which culminated in a large-scale lawsuit filed in the US this December. AllOfMP3 has repeatedly shaken off these attempts, indicating that it received its song licenses legitimately through a separate Russian agency.
