Jazz Odyssey

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"After years of bitter battles between copyright holders and file-swapping services, the outlines of a partial truce are emerging that may soon see major record labels partner with peer-to-peer networks to create legal online music stores."

CNET’s News.com takes a look at Napster founder Shawn Fanning’s new creation, Snocap.  Details on the technology remain unclear but what is crystal clear is the potential impact.  A partial cease-fire between the major labels and the P2P networks would be big news.

But complexities remain.  Does the deployment of Snocap on existing P2P networks undermine the statement the P2P networks have repeatedly made about their inability to filter content?  And does the rumored feature that allows Snocap to track requests for content that isn’t yet authorized for legal P2P distribution provide valuable marketing data to labels?  If so, does that undermine the labels’ argument that the sole function of existing P2P networks is to deprive content creators/owners from their rightful compensation?  And should all of this come to pass and the major labels start getting down with OPB (Other People’s Bandwidth) will a smart label find the hook that compels music fans to volunteer as edge servers to create true super-distribution?