ALL CHANGE November 07 2000 dotmusic.com Net music sharing threatens to become secure and paid-for. In the wake of the historic Bertelsmann / Napster alliance, the perception of music file sharing is rapidly changing. Whereas only weeks ago Napster et al were seen by many as evil free-for-alls, now a whole host of companies are looking at ways of making industry-endorsed, fully paid up music sharing systems. Having been switched off last summer, when lawsuits against Napster and Scour reached their initial peak, media exchange application CuteMX has now been relaunched, branding itself as a copyright-friendly sharing network. Tim Nicolaou, of CuteMX's parent company GlobalScape Inc, has been negotiating with independent record labels with the intention of starting its own flat-fee subscription model. "Our strategy is to be a technology partner to those with content already in place", says Nicolaou. Company president Sandra Poole-Christal agrees, saying "it is a pivotal time for file sharing technology with the recent BMG and Napster announcement and Listen.com's bid to acquire assets from Scour." The fact that Listen.com, owned in part by all the major record labels, has invested in Scour's Napster-like technology indicates that peer-to-peer sharing is at last becoming an accepted part of the music industry's plans for digital distribution. As Listen.com CEO Rob Reid comments, "The same way that BMG and Napster said there has to be some way to make this work, our belief is that there's a real model to be created here." But though Napster boss Hank Barry claims Bertelsmann will "let Napster be Napster", significant changes will need to be implemented so that artists and copyright owners can be paid when their music is swapped. Such changes, however, could prove a double-bind for Napster, which has claimed in its legal defence that it cannot block specific tracks or artists from its system. comment on this article e-mail this to a friend start a discussion [about i-drive] writing index thoughts dotmusic index Problems? Questions? Suggestions? Contact me: mail@tobyslater.com back to top back to home page

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