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KaZaA Wants to Be An Official Content Distributor
scubacuda writes "Detroit News: Nikki Hemming, CEO of KaZaA, says KaZaA wants to be the official online distributor for the entertainment industry. 'Realize that this technology is inexorable, and come to the table,' says Hemming to our friends Hilary Rosen and Jack Valenti."
"When users want one, they pay a royalty fee. If they want to share files, the system forces the next person who wants to get it to also pay the fee. '
so this is really where KaZaa 'comes to the table' and joins the establishment.
Advertising can only take you so far. At some point you've got to sell your soul and talk to the bigwigs.
What kind of safeguards are going to need to be put in place to make sure that content isn't simply distributed to the ends of the earth like it is now? Un-bypassable commercials?
I have been pwned because my
Paid downlaods and pirated versions of the same song, side by side...
Who doesn't like free music?
Kazaa has basically made it's reputation spitting in the face of media companies. Their attitude to the RIAA and the US Government has been one of defiance, and frankly, arrogance from the very start.
Record labels will build their own online distribution points. Most of them are quite committed to the day Kazaa ceases to exist. If THIS was the strategy of Sharman Networks from the beginning, it was ill-concieved at best, and idiotic at worst. You don't piss in the face of competitors, laugh at them for it, and then expect them to actually WORK with you.
Life is hard, and the world is cruel
Personally, I think a tool like Kazaa would be perfect for a TV network to distribute programming. They could seed next week's episode of whatever into the network and allow it to be distributed to those who want to receive it. Use DRM to expire content after a week after you first play it if you want, but this would allow me to retrieve a program and then watch it at my convenience.
.... oh shoot... I just dropped my rose-colored glasses... nevermind...
(I'd prefer a TivO, but they're not in Canada, yet...)
Wouldn't it be something if a network actually embraced Kazaa?
'Realize that this technology is inexorable, and come to the table,' says Hemming to our friends Hilary Rosen and Jack Valenti."
Continuation of blurb above... "'Realize that this technology is inexorable, and come to the table. Just make sure your pants are at your ankles when you are bent over the table signing the deal because either way you are taking it in the ass, at least when you get *pumped* by me you get a little money"
Kazaa is already an official distributor of viruses so sure, why not. I have become quite intimate with my Registry since installing Kazaa (and not in a good way). It's enough to make a guy go legit!
not of the end user. They have been actively trying to get their software onto machines without the users' knowledge.
And, do they not realise the Hillary Rosen stepped down from the RIAA? Keep up.
This will never work. The credibility of this service now could not be worse with the RIAA et al, they would never agree to sell their content on Kazaa. Especially since the Kazaa model would give them very little control over their own content, they'd never go for it. Presumably Hemming knows this (I can't imagine her being naive enough not to), I wonder if she is just taking the opportunity to try and goad Rosen and Valenti...
This is a great idea that KaZaA has been trying to implement for quite some time now. However, after seeing musicians challenge Apple to force selling of entire albums as opposed to just songs it's almost clear that the RIAA isn't willing to do away with its current business model to stop copyright violations. The RIAA wants everyone else to change but won't think about changing themselves.
Hilary: Hey, Jack, did you get that email from the Kazaa guys? :)
Jack: Yeah, what about it?
Hilary: Is that something we should consider doing?
Jack: Did I miss Hell freezing over or something?
Hilary: No, no, I'm just fucking with you
Jack: Phew, I thought you were serious there for a minute. Don't do that!
Personally, I wouldn't touch anything that has the word "Kazaa" in it with a ten foot pole. Best to stay far away from that advertisement & spyware-ridden beast. Advertisements I can deal with. Spyware on the other hand is intolerable.
"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars." - Oscar Wilde
Is it me, or does it seem like the last stage of a P2P before collapse is attempting to go legit?
You make some excellent points here. I agree that given the resources and time, KaZaA can be crushed. However, the only issue with crushing KaZaA is the users. We as internet users ( yes; like parent, I also have illegally downloaded music/programs/movies from my peers, so sue me ) are far too used to getting these things for free; that we take its legality for granted.
If you ask the average person on the street who uses a computer if they download music and such from KaZaA, chances are, they will say yes. It is also likely that they either don't realize that it's illegal or don't care, as the mentality of "they'll never catch me" applies to most internet users.
If KaZaA is destroyed, some other service will take reign of the illegal file sharing business. It's going to be nearly impossible to stop the everything-is-free mentality of p2p users.
Added to this, many users of KaZaA and the like are minors who do not have credit cards or any other means to support a pay-per-download mechanism. Unfortunately, because these users are so young, they do not have the moral upbringing to realize that copyright violation is stealing.
Okay, I'll stop typing now.
Kazaa's intention to distribute licensed content via its users rather than via a central server
Kazaa intends to reward users with 'points' which they can spend on more content or prizes, for distributing this content for them
What remains to be seen though, is whether users will be willing to pay for the kind of content that they are used to downloading for free, and could probably obtain for free elsewhere. Given that Kazaa's users are already used to this convinience, it seems unlikely that they will start queueing up to get their copyrighted files in legal form. This is especially true since the download of these new licensed files from other P2P users will likely be no faster or more reliable than other files of more dubious legality. Also by allowing users to handle the distribution, the door is opened for cracks that allow people to start handing out their already purchased content for free. I'm unsure how Kazaa intends to stop this from happening, and with the files already stored on a user's machine, any method they select should be fairly simple to overcome.
Nonsense. The ethics people follow does not arise from governmental actions. If you stop downloading and you tell your friends that "theft is wrong", the situation might change. However as long as you are promoting your ethical views through hypocritical anonymous ranting that promote government-organized regulations, the rest of the world can be rather certain that your views will not become any more popular than they already are.
The truth is that the majority of people don't care all that much about copyrights and it would take something completely different from what you describe to change this situation.
Napster, Kazaa and Gnutella, etc. are great for poor people (i.e. most of us) or for companies that aren't making any money off the downloads to serve large amounts of data without buying expensive infrastructure. However, for a business that actually expects to make money off the service, I think that distributed P2P is irrelevant. You lose control over quality of service and availability without saving that much money.
I don't see why the music industry would use Kazaa's technology and I don't see why users would want Kazaa's nasty DRM.
Kazaa represents not piracy but a new market. The force that you see causing havoc is due to the market not being satisfied. Just like prohibition, where there is a need it WILL be satified. Put DRM on machines... fine. Bring lawsuits on customers... fine. Employ illegal tactics to try to disrupt the services... fine. Do anything beside scratch the itch that is the percieved destroyer of your previously succesful business... fine. When you wake up to reality and things CHANGED, with or without your consent or participation, it really is not anything but your own fault for missing the "window" of time you had to embrace the new market.
This has proven to be both enevitable and incontrivertible. Intellectual property will not be respected at the loss of market. Content will continue to be king, but it's shelf life and control will be a LOT less then what has been enjoyed in the past.
Aren't they that already?
If Kazaa plans on making money from using other people's bandwidth, isn't that going to be in violation of some ISP's service agreements? I know my ISP prohibts "commercial" use, so if I share files and for which I am paid in some form, wouldn't that in violation of that agreement?
Granted, they don't seem to mind p2p right now unless they get a notice from the RIAA/MPAA, but if Kazaa goes legit I could see them demanding a piece of the pie too.
KAZAA
There is no escape. Don't make
me destroy you. You do not yet
realize your importance. You
have only begun to discover your
power. Join me and I will complete
your training. With our combined
strength, we can end this destructive
conflict and bring order to the
galaxy.
RIAA/MPAA
I'll never join you!
-------- This space intentionally left blank --------
"KaZaA Wants to Be An Official Content Distributor"
And I want to be an Astronaut.
I think I like my chances better.
-- "Government is the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else."
On the surface, what you say makes sense, but after reading it twice it falls apart. You are using the "worse criminal" defense for the RIAA and MPAA. In other words, you want to "crush Kazaa" and let the RIAA and MPAA completely off, because you believe that Kazaa is the only bad guy here. Well, I've got news for you. The RIAA and MPAA (both of whom you think are blameless here), brought this whole thing upon themselves. It started with a cartel attitude they got long before Kazaa even existed. The RIAA has spent years screwing the consumer, the songwriter and the individual artist, while at the same time reciting a mantra that it claims to be HELPING them! The MPAA does the same with actors. They are trade and lobbying groups who only seek to benefit their members. I work in radio and based on your statement, the NAB is good for radio and TV. I'm sure if you ask my unemployed friend, he might give you his impressions which run quite contrary to yours (and he's a conservative republican!). Kazaa should be looked upon as the digital equilavent to the VCR. If you recall, the MPAA wanted to kill that golden goose too. Once they were smacked back by the Supreme Court, cooler heads prevailed over the rantings of Herr Valenti and now the movie industry makes OVER HALF of their income from video rentals and sales. The same could be true of p2p. P2p has the ability to make the music and movie industries TONS OF MONEY! Even 'evil' Napster wanted to cut them into this golden gravy train and their pure ignorance resulted in them again killing the golden goose! But based on your logic, a new entertainment source that had 45 million users that paid for their own storage, marketing and transportation can only be used for evil purposes..right? The bottom line is this: Given a place to BUY MP3's at reasonable prices, people do..IN DROVES! Same is likely true of movies too. Look, when CD's first came out, they cost about 3 bucks apiece to make (mostly because of the huge amount of failures that had to be tested out of each batch - they virtually had to test every individual CD). That alone justified their (almost triple) cost over vinyl. Now they stamp out CD's for a couple of pennies - yet charge more for them. I remember my friend buying an LED digital watch for 300 bucks in 1974. These days, digital watches cost 99 cents! YET the CD hasn't come down a penny! At the same time, the artists and songwriters get less (real) money then they did 25 years ago! Why? Simple greed. Nothing more, nothing less. What the RIAA wants is to kill this threat to their existance...nothing more. Why the MPAA lets Herr Valenti rant again escapes me too... What the record and movie industries don't seem to realize is that they're essentially becoming redundant. Their product isn't necessary for life like food, heat, transportation, clothes and shelter are. In a bad economy (like we have right now), those things take precedence over music and movies. Restaurants are taking it on the chin too...last week I went to my favorite one (after almost a year) and the normally full restaurant was almost empty. Car sales are so in the toilet that that they are throwing out 0% financing for five years now, hoping that someone buys! Yet, I don't see Congress passing laws making supermarkets or busses illegal. Plus, there is a huge fight for the entertainment dollar out there. Video games, digital TV, DVD, Satellite TV and radio, paint ball, fishing, camping and about 100 other things are competing for it. The RIAA and MPAA should be kissing the ground that their consumers are still loyal after them calling them criminals, rather then intimidating them in court!.
What the hell is the difference?
Ryan O'Rourke
> Kazaa has basically made it's reputation spitting in the face of media companies.
.001% of the profits and if the user downloads anything but approved RIAA content we do a pop-up warning. After the second warning we wipe their drive. Deal?"
Perhaps, but they also share a complete disdain of anything that gets in the way of profits. I doubt kazaa would have any problems pushing the most draconian DRM app in their newest update. I can picture the hypothetical conversation right now...
"Okay, so we agree. Kazaa gets
"Umm, can't you do a little better?"
"Okay before we wipe the drive we'll do 20 wipes on their My Documents folder and media files so they can't recover them."
"I like, but its missing something..."
"It'll post their SSN and any personal info we find during install to a newsgroup too."
"And send a 'I quit letter' to their boss and a 'You were never a good mother' email to their mom?"
"Deal. No one reads these EULAs anyway."
KaZaA: Now Distributing All the Porn and Warez the World has to Offer for Only $19.95 a month!
And, if you order now, we'll also include a free 5-warez trial of UniversalKeygen v1.0!
This offer is not available in stores! However, the first 50 callers will receive a free plastic keyboard cover, mouse cover and even a monitor cover! NO MORE CLEANING UP THAT MESS AFTER VIEWING THAT FAKE BRITNEY SPEARS HARDCORE ACTION FLICK!
Just call 888.PIE.RACY
Trent Polack
www.polycat.net
KaZaA to media organizations:
"Either get in business with us or we'll continue making it dirt-easy to steal your content."
See also:
http://www.bartleby.com/61/87/E0298700.html
Mikey-San
Karma: +Eleventy billion (mostly affected by watching Celebrity Jeopardy)
"Moral upbringing" is irrelevant, because there's no question of morality involved.
What's the moral difference between recording to analog cassette off the radio which is explicitly legal and recording to MP3 format? What's the moral differnce between tape swapping and file swapping?
Perhaps your RIAA propaganda has an answer for that. Hint: Don't try "perfect digital copy" bullshit here, you can't do that with 128K MP3 which is basically broadcast quality when ripped if everything goes right. Analog information gets lost when a 50 meg file is compressed to about 5 megs. If you were into music, maybe you'd know the difference. The difference is why people buy CDs instead of MP3s.
Most parents are of a generation that grew up recording off the radio to reel-to-reel and later casettes. They are NOT teaching kids that the slightly modernized version of what we did when we were kids is wrong, because they don't see any moral difference.
That's because there isn't any, and not all the RIAA propaganda in the world, not even that parroted here by "useful fools" and people on the RIAA payroll will cause anybody who understands the issues to see a difference.
Why have record companies paid radio stations to play back their materials for generations despite the fact that people will STEAL IT!!!? Because the only value a broadcast-quality audio track has is to promote the actual product, which is a CD album, and nobody will buy the product outside of RIAA label suit fantasies. So the record labels give away free reduced quality samples to induce people to buy the product.
Why aren't the labels thrilled to distribute their promos via P2P and Internet Radio on the dime of the listener?
They have no control over distribution, everything that hits the network has a chance that people will listen to it and buy the CD. Whether the track comes from a bedroom studio or the latest "hot new discovery" (aka n'Sync clone). And they don't have enough confidence in their ability to do a better job of making stuff people will want to hear than a no-budget indie to tolerate a level playing field.
The only difference between "stealing" via digital and legitimate tape swapping is simply that the RIAA paid to get digital recording by end users without DRM illegal back in 1992. (Audio Home Recording Act)
So leave off with the moral bullshit, the RIAA bought the law fair and square and now are openly discussing getting cyberterrorism (you want to explain how "destroying user computers" can be called anything else?) to attempt to enforce the law.
As to why CD sales are dropping, there are lots of reasons starting with the fact that fewer CDs are distributed per album, the market is fractionating into niches too small for record labels to exploit via FM radio (know how many kinds of metal there are?), the economy, etc.
P2P isn't one of the reasons. It's just another promo distribution channel. If people hear tracks they really like on P2P, they'll go buy the CD because it sounds better.
Ask Eminem. His album was prereleased via P2P and went straight to #1... notice he isn't whining about P2P cutting into his sales.
I suspect Eminem himself pre-released it. . . being smarter than the people he and perhaps you work for.
Madonna cut a track whining about EVIL PIRATES and got that into P2P channels. Her album went into the toilet and her career is following it.
As a published writer, I don't favor copyright violation. However, I don't favor making xerox machines and PCs illegal to keep my stuff from getting copied, either. I just get pissed if it gets resold. People copying it for their own use... unlike you, I get the concept of fair use.
Tech Public Policy stuff
"A great democracy must be progressive or it will soon cease to be a great democracy." --Theodore Roosevelt