Search results on sale on Kazaa

[TankGirl]

CNet News:

Bands to buy Kazaa search results

By John Borland
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
August 22, 2002, 11:48 AM PT

A new pay-for-placement program has started on the popular Kazaa file-swapping network, allowing bands to buy their way into search results on the file-trading system. A company called Cornerband.com is offering musicians the ability to have their songs show up when file- swappers search for generic terms such as "hip-hop" or "electronica."

Cornerband is working through Altnet, a company whose technology is distributed as part of the Kazaa peer-to-peer system. Altnet allows other companies that hope to use the Kazaa network as a way to distribute authorized, copy-protected content to launch similar keyword associations.

- tg

[kento]

just wanted to say: that sux. is this why i am having trouble getting fast search results and downloads that rarely go above 1kbs on cable modem!?!

[jaan]

Originally posted by kento
just wanted to say: that sux. is this why i am having trouble getting fast search results and downloads that rarely go above 1kbs on cable modem!?!

no, altnet files have nothing to do with download performace. my guess is that your cable company is throttling port 1214 (kazaa's default port).

- jaan

[kento]

Originally posted by jaan
no, altnet files have nothing to do with download performace. my guess is that your cable company is throttling port 1214 (kazaa's default port).

- jaan

not the answer i was wanting to hear, jaan ( i was hoping it was something i could change like a corrupt registry entrie or something) but you are probably right.

is there any way to make kazaa use a nonstandard port like 80 or 8080, etcetera?

thanks,

-kento

[jaan]

Originally posted by kento
is there any way to make kazaa use a nonstandard port like 80 or 8080, etcetera?

not really. most kazaa users are on port 1214, so in order to connect to others you must go through that port anyway.

however, i hear that sharman is working on a new version that is supposed to address various concerns and suggestions from users. whether the port throttling problem is one of them remains to be seen.

- jaan

[Kris404]

Could this be the reason why I was getting some artist named "Johnny Virgil" as the first result everytime I searched for anything through it the last week or so?

[kento]

thanks, jaan.

hi kris

[Kris404]

hi kento

[jaan]

Originally posted by Kris404
Could this be the reason why I was getting some artist named "Johnny Virgil" as the first result everytime I searched for anything through it the last week or so?

i'm not sure, but this is quite possible if a) johnny virgil is an artist signed up with altnet, and b) your searches contained a keyword that he has purchased.

- jaan

[LiteOrb]

Ref-johnny virgil is he any good ?
bet no-one has DL him,as he was not what you were looking for
plus this is just a way to get ppl used to using Altnet. "see it not as bad as ppl make out" well we will have have to see!
tip of the ice etc............

[JackSpratts]

Originally posted by jaan
i'm not sure, but this is quite possible if a) johnny virgil is an artist signed up with altnet, and b) your searches contained a keyword that he has purchased.

- jaan

wonder how much they want for the word "beatles"?

- js.

[Kris404]

Ref-johnny virgil is he any good ?

bet he sucks big time.. just do a search.. read the description field.. and the tracks names..


M.F.
Celine Mariah Barbra Whitney
The Sea of Touch and Go




Another interesting thing was, when you search for "Johnny Virgil" you get a result for "Prodigy" Go figure..

[Drakonix]

Gee, buying search results on a P2P network won't do the artists any good if the RIAA "jams" the network, or seeds it with corrupted songs.

The RIAA is pooping its own bed. Oh well.

[jaan]

Originally posted by LiteOrb
bet no-one has DL him,as he was not what you were looking for

yup, i see your point. however, the law of big numbers dictates that somebody, somewhere, is downloading johnny virgil as we speak. besides, even if people don't download you, having your name exposed to literally millions of music fans is definitely worth something, isn't it.

plus this is just a way to get ppl used to using Altnet.
"see it not as bad as ppl make out" well we will have have to see!

sure. but that's what you're supposed to do after you've made a huge PR blunder like bde/altnet did. stick around and demonstrate that you really are OK.

Originally posted by JackSpratts
wonder how much they want for the word "beatles"?

well, i can definitely think of words with greater potential. though i'm not sure i want to explicitly list them here if you catch my drift...

however, on a more serious note, associating your music with keywords your potential fans are likely to use sounds to me like a great way to expand your audience. not to mention that p2p systems are in pretty much unique position to do such marketing, which will no doubt take even more effective forms as the technology matures. think of creating worldwide p2p communities based on musical taste, and using their help to spread the word about upcoming bands they are all likely to appreciate....

then again, i'm one of the programmers of altnet, so i'm obviously biased. i just honestly believe that the p2p networks have a much greater role to play in the future than being a "global harddrive", and altnet takes the first babysteps towards that role.

- jaan

[TankGirl]

Hi jaan, nice to have you posting here!

Originally posted by jaan
however, on a more serious note, associating your music with keywords your potential fans are likely to use sounds to me like a great way to expand your audience. not to mention that p2p systems are in pretty much unique position to do such marketing, which will no doubt take even more effective forms as the technology matures. think of creating worldwide p2p communities based on musical taste, and using their help to spread the word about upcoming bands they are all likely to appreciate....

True. AudioGalaxy and SoulSeek have already done this to a degree and demonstrated that it works in practice.

Originally posted by jaan
then again, i'm one of the programmers of altnet, so i'm obviously biased. i just honestly believe that the p2p networks have a much greater role to play in the future than being a "global harddrive", and altnet takes the first babysteps towards that role.

I agree. Many p2p networks (Gnutella and FastTrack among them) have been so far mostly content-oriented and lacked the basic tools for community formation. I would expect this to change soon as the benefits of community-oriented p2p become more obvious to the masses.

- tg

[Merijn]

Eww.... think of what this could evolve into... search for 'sex' in Kazaa and you get 14 pr0n popups

If AltNet still routes its crap through www.altnetp2p.com and www.altnet.com this is pretty easy to block though.

And older Kazaa versions won't support this. (Just in case, everyone knows where to get old Kazaa versions, right?? )

[kento]

think of creating worldwide p2p communities based on musical taste, and using their help to spread the word about upcoming bands they are all likely to appreciate....

i liked the wording on this, jaan...but there is still just something creepy about it. ("buying search results in a p2p program") it just creeps me out. sorry.

-kento

[JackSpratts]

Originally posted by jaan
however, on a more serious note, associating your music with keywords your potential fans are likely to use sounds to me like a great way to expand your audience. not to mention that p2p systems are in pretty much unique position to do such marketing, which will no doubt take even more effective forms as the technology matures. think of creating worldwide p2p communities based on musical taste, and using their help to spread the word about upcoming bands they are all likely to appreciate....

then again, i'm one of the programmers of altnet, so i'm obviously biased. i just honestly believe that the p2p networks have a much greater role to play in the future than being a "global harddrive", and altnet takes the first babysteps towards that role.

- jaan

well it sure sounds good when you put it that way jaan but i can't help thinking that in a world of limited search returns (say 100 for kazaa) using up some or most of them for what are essentially paid commercials leaves little left over for the actual reason we're using a p2p.

- js.

[jaan]

Originally posted by JackSpratts
in a world of limited search returns (say 100 for kazaa) using up some or most of them for what are essentially paid commercials leaves little left over for the actual reason we're using a p2p.

actually, no. altnet results are delivered via separate mechanism (they basically come from altnet server), so they don't really compete with kazaa's results for slots.

also, i seem to remember that there's a hard limit on how many paid results can be added to each search, but i'm not sure.

- jaan

[JackSpratts]

Originally posted by jaan
actually, no. altnet results are delivered via separate mechanism (they basically come from altnet server), so they don't really compete with kazaa's results for slots.

also, i seem to remember that there's a hard limit on how many paid results can be added to each search, but i'm not sure.

- jaan

i'll have to defer to you here jaan as i've not yet had any time w/the altnet-kazaa system. still my point stands, if not specifically with your program. for instance i wouldn't want to slog thru pages of ads each time i use a search engine just to get to the info i need, nor would I like seeing 50 returns from britney spears latest brain numbing, soul crushing neo-hippie sugar smack when i'm looking for say "60's psychedelia" with my (previously) favorite p2p.

sure, potentially a great promotional tool but potentially counter productive, even destructive as well. it should be done with utmost care and/or it should be optional. the risk here of alienating content providing users is very high. as always, it's in the details.

- js.