Companies Eyeing Peer-To-Peer As Legitimate Promotional Vehicle

[JackSpratts]

By Amy Harmon, NYT

A growing group of online marketers have a new name for the millions of people who use Internet file-trading software to steal music: "customers."

The ranks of these marketers include independent bands with little to lose and established companies like Microsoft. What they have in common is that they are starting to view the masses of Internet pirates as a possible source of revenue. They have begun to experiment with promoting their wares on file-trading services, which are typically used to obtain unauthorized copies of music, movies or software.

Some entertainment industry officials condemn those marketing efforts as giving support to services that encourage the theft of other people's intellectual property. But the organizations promoting file-traders see it as a way to lure people away from piracy by providing them with authorized material to download — and, in some cases, asking them to pay for it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/04/te...rtne r=GOOGLE

- js.

[multi]

Cornerband, in turn, charges artists to distribute songs in a technology wrapper, supplied by Microsoft, that can prompt users to pay for a track or buy a CD when they try to play the music after a preset time period.

that maybe be tripping up the new users...
and maybe putting them off p2p...

also the ASSHEADS will download them and rename them to some latest song change the meta info....viola!....a whole new fake file to put up with on kazza...where fakes abound in many shapes and sizes
maybe the "gold coin" info will be in the file header itself..and this cant be done hopefully

[jaan]

One executive at a major record company said that he and many colleagues would like to use a service like Altnet to distribute their material but that their lawyers would not allow it.

i sometimes wonder whether the lawyers work for record execs, or record execs work for their lawyers...

- jaan

[theknife]

"We're going to find that people labeled as hackers, thieves and pirates will convert and change patterns to pay for content," said Kevin Bermeister, chief executive of Altnet, which acts as an intermediary for KaZaA, the most popular file-trading software, and organizations that want to distribute legitimate materials.

Stop me before I download again.

"At a time when the public is especially hungry for good corporate citizens," said Carey Sherman, a lawyer for the Recording Industry Association of America, "it's surprising that any legitimate interest would consider giving financial support to a pirate service like KaZaA that illegally traffics in the copyrighted works of others."

This guy has it all wrong. What the public is really hungry for is to see Martha Stewart doing the perp walk on the 6 o'clock news. Bad corporate citizens merely confirm what we all suspected anyway.

[JackSpratts]

Insane Clown Posse Teams Up With Grokster For First Major Recording Artist Promotional Album Launch Campaign On Peer To Peer Network

BURBANK, CA -- (INTERNET WIRE) -- 11/05/2002 -- Grokster, one of the world’s largest P2P networks, announced today that they have entered into an agreement with the "Platinum" recording group Insane Clown Posse (ICP) to launch an international merchandise giveaway in tandem with the release of their CD "The Wraith: Shangri-La", in stores today. The promotion is a first of its kind between a platinum-recording artist and a major P2P network beyond merely offering a free MP3. The promotion goes live today and will end on November 26.

ICP fans, the self-named “Jugaloos”, can go to their Grokster start page and register for prized ICP collectibles, some of the most sought after in the world. Prizes include “Wraith” leather jackets, novelty stand-ups, autographed posters, baseball caps, T-shirts, and other assorted “Wraith” items. Fans will also be invited to download a free MP3 of the new single, “HOMIES”, on the Grokster start page. Grokster will be prominently posting messages to users to “Support the Artist. Buy the Record!”

Los Angeles-based online marketing company, Net Music Promotions, organized the promotion. Trevor Lane, President of Net Music Promotions, said, “The Grokster platform allows us to substantially increase awareness for Insane Clown Posse’s new album. This promotion also provides fans and potential album consumers with a direct link to purchase the album online. Additional elements of this promotion include a Net Music Promotions e-card that fans can send to all of their friends letting them know about the release.”
http://www1.internetwire.com/iwire/r...lease_id=48365

- js.