• Investment World
• eWorld
• Catalyst
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Port Info

• Ships in Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• Business Line
• The Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Vipin V. Nair

A deal struck between Sony and a UK company could set the tone for legal music downloads from the Internet.

EVER since the Internet took off, illegal music sharing has been the scourge of the global music industry.

Despite their best efforts, music companies still lose big money as most music lovers simply download and swap MP3 songs — illegally.

But a new deal struck between an Internet Service Provider (ISP) in the UK and Sony BMG could set the tone for the digital music industry to develop not only new revenue streams but also popularise legitimate music sharing.

Playlouder MSP of the UK, which calls itself the `world's first and only music ISP', has come up with a landmark deal that may well be replicated by others in the coming days.

Subscribers of Playlouder MSP's broadband services can now legally download Sony's licensed songs and share them with other subscribers of the ISP using a peer-to-peer application. They can download an unlimited number of songs at no extra cost.

But how does Playlouder ensure that the songs are not traded beyond its network? It uses `digital fingerprinting technologies' to track the music files in its network in any format.

By using the `deep packets search', the ISP can control the network and monitor the distribution of music.

It can make sure that the entire file-sharing tariff remains within its `walled-garden.' So only the ISP's subscriber can access the files.

Under the agreement, Playlouder will pay music rights owners a proportion of broadband subscription revenues, `subject to an agreed minimum per subscriber, per month.' Beyonce, Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie, George Michael, Macy Gray, Jennifer Lopez, Elvis Presley, Pink, and Outkast are among the many artists whose songs are included in the licence deal.

Playlouder says file sharing in its network will be faster and more reliable for its subscribers. The service will also be free of the spoofs and viruses that normally sneak in during illegal file swapping.

Also, the music licences will be available in `high-quality encoded formats' for downloading.

More in pipeline

The simplicity and effectiveness of the Playlouder-Sony deal will make it an attractive proposition for others to replicate, say industry experts. Also, the music industry will make significant monetary gains.

It is estimated that if all ISPs followed this model, the music industry will rake in over 300 million pounds in the UK alone in a year. Globally, they will make as much as over $13 billion if such alliances happen across the world. Already, there are rumours on the Internet that Universal is likely to announce a similar deal.

Legitimate music file sharing, anyway, is on the rise. A recent survey by the International Federation of Phonographic Industries (IFPI), an organisation that promotes the interests of the worldwide recording industry, has found that the number of legally-downloaded music files tripled to 180 million in the first half of this year, while illegal file-sharing has virtually remained stagnant.

Community-wide legal music sharing is also on the rise.

In the US, three campuses of the University of Missouri are set to offer a digital file sharing service this fall, it is reported.

Students can swap music on the University's computer network through a tie-up with a music file sharing company. Like in the case of Playlouder, here too, the music thus shared will remain within the University network. This step will also promote legal music swapping amongst students.

As broadband Internet takes off in India, such deals are not very far from happening here too.

vipin@thehindu.co.in

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Playing on a new court

Copyright © 2005, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line