Record Label Sells Sponsorship Of P2P Downloads

from the change? dept

Nathan Wilhoft was the first of several people to submit the story about Sprint "sponsoring" the P2P download of 16 million copies of a song by the artist Plies. Sprint is paying a "substantial six-figure" sum to embed its logo in the song (apparently as the cover art), so that when users play the downloaded track on their computer or MP3 player, it will be displayed. It's an interesting tactic, both in terms of an advertising strategy, but also on the part of the artist and record label. While the label is still focused on selling the music, this is another small step in investigating some alternative business models. What's slightly odd, though, is that MediaDefender is in on the deal. It sounds like it's the middleman here, hooking up the record label with advertisers, then also uploading the tracks onto the P2P networks. MediaDefender is best known for uploading spoof tracks to P2P networks on behalf of labels to thwart file-sharers -- so perhaps they do know a thing or two about uploading. But that company's involvement could also be taken as another sign that things are starting to change, and that the music industry realizes it needs to evolve to survive. But before getting too carried away, plenty of questions remain. Perhaps the biggest has to do with that 16 million downloads figure -- after all, once a track's onto P2P networks, how will the label control how many times its downloaded? Will users be allowed to actually upload and share the track on their own, with no fear of retribution from the label?
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: p2p, sponsorship
Companies: sprint


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  • identicon
    Marc Cohen, 9 Jul 2007 @ 2:43pm

    Sprint/Plies deal is great

    This is a great move for the artist, the listner and the sponsor. The cost to produce and display the ad is nearly zero and this is revenue for the artist that he never would have realized. Check out the Ad-Supported Music Central blog: http://ad-supported-music.blogspot.com/

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 9 Jul 2007 @ 4:21pm

    i wonder how the RIAA will react to that!!!

    are we gonna see an article on techdirt soon about how RIAA is suing sprint and or MediaDefender

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 9 Jul 2007 @ 5:29pm

    Ok, so does this mean that the song is free to download because it supported by ads? Or do I just get the priviledge of seeing ads including in the price?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Slartibartfast, 9 Jul 2007 @ 7:23pm

      Re:

      Precisely. I could put up with ads if I'm getting the thing for "free" but if I'm expected to pay for it AND get ads I'd be looking for ways to delete the ad out of the product.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Some One, 9 Jul 2007 @ 7:34pm

    Or it could mean that mediadefender is just trying another method of entrapment and getting a bunch of IP's of people moronic enough to fall for this.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 9 Jul 2007 @ 8:17pm

    How many free root kits are included?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    colin, 10 Jul 2007 @ 6:55am

    its not entrapment. its a movement to an advertising supported model for the music industry. the song remains free, but in exchange for getting the song for free, there is a small sprint ad (static, not pop up or anything) that appears in itunes, or on your cell/portable mediaplayer.

    the reason mediadefender is involved is because they have the technology infrastructure to operate on the peer to peers.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Big moo GH, 5 Apr 2012 @ 10:05am

    Local song

    Can i upload song from any part of the world?

    link to this | view in chronology ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.