Copyright Law

Former EMI Exec Ted Cohen?s P2P Proposal

By Derek Slater

Will try to link up if/when the article becomes publicly available. Coolfer has the scoop — here’s an excerpt:

“What I propose is an aggressive six-month trial by a major P2P service (any takers?) that could finally give us clear insight into the behavior of P2P users. Is it about interoperability, community and deep catalog, or is it all about free? We need to know.

“Here’s how it would work: Leave the service exactly as it is: no filtering, no DRM, no changes to its current offering of unprotected MP3s. The rare tracks, bootlegs-they all stay there. Just charge for each piece of content and split the revenue between the service and the content owners.

“Yes, I know. Deals aren’t in place with labels and publishers. Some content out there (bootlegs, etc.) isn’t ‘cleared,’ and yes, it might keep some accountants working overtime. But wouldn’t it be better to figure out how to allocate all the revenue than not to have it at all? For the ‘gray’ content, I suggest labels consider a 50/50 percentage share with the artists, obviating arguments on who owns it.”

Full post as published by A Copyfighter’s Musings on March 29, 2007 (boomark / email).