Surf the Net and you’ll find all kinds ways p2p file sharing can benefit distributors, creators and the general public alike.

Nine times out of ten, innovation is a key word and the emphasis is on good product easily obtained from emerging talents at reasonable prices, all concepts which are entirely foreign to the existing entertainment industry.

So far, most of the attention is on music files because of the constant whining and bleating from the corporate music sector which sees the rip-off profits it was making before the Net came along slipping through its fingers as former customers discover the diversity that’s online.

So far, Big Music has tried everything it can think of to "kill the beast," the beast being techology, performers and enterprises it doesn’t own and can’t control.

But, asks Associated Press’ Angela Doland, reporting here from Cannes, France, where the "music industry is giving all it’s got to the fight against unauthorized file-sharing", if you can’t if you can’t kill the beast, "why not tame it"?

Good thinking, that.

"The idea," says the report – "Even when fans copy files from other music lovers’ computers, record companies and artists can still make money."

We know. It’s the major labels who’re having trouble grasping the idea.

"Legitimate peer-to-peer, or P2P, file-sharing has attracted mostly small labels, and it’s likely to stay a niche market," the report continues. "But at last month’s huge Midem industry conference in this Mediterranean resort, an EMI executive urged people to give it a chance.

" ‘We want to learn how to embrace P2P,’ said Ted Cohen, EMI’s senior vice president for digital development and distribution. He believes it will take a year for the tide to change.’

"Services like Apple Computer Inc.’s iTunes Music Store have demonstrated that people are willing to pay to download music over the Internet, but such services do not use peer-to-peer technology but rather distribute music from a central server."

But, "In a P2P system, a music fan grabs tunes directly off another fan’s computer. Such systems lower distribution costs because files are available from multiple locations. They also save companies money on bandwidth."

Are they, then, finally beginning to see the picture?

Well, not really.

"Much of the time, using P2P system amounts to piracy. And because of unauthorized services like Kazaa, P2P has become something of a dirty word in the recording business.

"The industry has even filed lawsuits against P2P companies and their users. Lawyers are headed back to court Tuesday as the labels, music publishers and film studios attempt to persuade an appellate panel to overturn a ruling that cleared Grokster Ltd. and StreamCast Networks Inc. of liability. The entertainment industry also has a pending lawsuit against Kazaa’s parent company, Sharman Networks Ltd."

Among companies trying to convince the music industry that p2p doesn’t have to be all about piracy is Wippit, a UK music subscription service, says Doland.

And, "PlayLouder, an Internet service provider for music lovers that’s set to debut in Britain later this year, also will offer file-sharing. One of its investors is the influential indie label Beggars Group."

However, "Mark Mulligan, a senior analyst with Jupiter Research in London, doubts that Wippit and PlayLouder can ever become mainstream because major labels are too worried that people will use them to make unlimited copies."

Then there’s "4FriendsOnly.com, which teamed with the Fraunhofer Institute, the German research center that developed that MP3 music format, which is widely used for file-sharing".

And what do these enterprises have in common?

Could it be they’re all like Shawn Fanning’s Snocap, "a P2P venture that would make money for the recording companies"?

You got it.

Because for the recording companies and their enforcement organ, the RIAA, the operative phrase is, of course, "make money for the recording companies".

Without that built in, nothing exists, they want everyone to acknowledge.

And in the meanwhile, "Large chunks of computing and the Internet will go behind a much stronger curtain of anonymity, and the pirates will remain untouchable underground – thanks to the RIAA’s misguided legal missiles."

This entry was posted on Monday, February 2nd, 2004 at 9:26 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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