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Digital Music: Legitimising the P2P Model
Generator Research Limited, Feb 2006, Pages: 10
The Industry's Pariah Steps out of the Twilight Zone
- Business Opportunities
- Market Developments
- Service Tests: iMesh v6.0
- P2P Distribution
- Online Music Store Costs
- Market Analysis
Two important trends are emerging from the P2P landscape: firstly, previously unauthorised services such as iMesh are now reinventing themselves as legitimate businesses and secondly - perhaps more significantly - the underlying P2P technology is being scrutinised by companies such as Warner, Bertelsmann and Microsoft for its potential as a digital media distribution solution. Indeed, several commercial digital entertainment services are already being developed that use P2P as a distribution technology, which can lead to cost savings for the service provider.
With the legal tide turning against them, practically all of the unauthorised P2P music service players have grudgingly accepted that the only viable path is to convert their ventures into legitimate businesses.
But to what extent can these new paid-for P2P services hope to compete with mainstream, legitimate offerings such as iTunes and Napster? Is this credible?
The report presents the results of a detailed test where iTunes, Napster and iMesh V6.0 Beta were each used to find and download 10 current chart singles: How do the different services compare in terms of the time taken to download the songs? How does the time taken vary? What about the availability of value-added features? And what is it about iMesh V6.0 Beta that would persuade a user to adopt the service, rather than an alternative?
The report also analyses the viability of migrating a customer base from non-paying to paying, especially when the target users can carry on using their existing software for free. How should this best be done? Can it be done? What will be the uptake?
This report also looks in some detail at the viability of using P2P as a digital music and media distribution solution. In theory, this allows an online media store to be set up with a much lower bandwidth connection to the internet.
But how is the quality of the user experience affected by this? What are the cost savings and are they really significant. We present a cost analysis of an online music store and to identify the percentage of the running costs that can be reduced by using P2P.
The report also covers the latest market developments in the use of P2P as a digital media distribution technology and suggests a number of future initiatives that could revolutionise the distribution of digital entertainment.
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