January 21, 2008
Volume XX, Issue 9
Net Advertising Continues Double Digit Growth
Excerpted from KenRadio Report by Ken Rutkowski
Online ad spending will grow 29% this year. However, 2008 is also shaping up as a year of contrasts, with the continued double digit growth rate of Internet advertising offset by a weakened economy's dampening effect on the broader, core advertising market.
Total US measured advertising spending is projected to increase 4.2% in 2008 and measured expenditures are forecast to grow by 3.6% in the first half of 2008 followed by a gain of 4.7% in the second half, according to a new study by TNS Media Intelligence.
The Internet will continue to gain share, principally at the expense of newspapers. Tracking share of spending on a rolling two-year basis, in order to control for the biennial fluctuations associated with the Olympics and elections - events that disproportionately benefit television media.
Projections for the 2007-08 cycle indicate television and magazines will maintain their shares, while the Internet will move past radio. 12% of ad money will be spent online in the US in 2010. 33% of European advertisers will have a social networking presence. $61 billion will be spent on interactive marketing by 2012.
CD Sales Drop Another Ten Percent
Excerpted from Digital Music News Report
A disastrous holiday sales meltdown is now bleeding into the new year, and dragging major label recovery prospects in the process.
Album sales tanked roughly 21% between Thanksgiving and Christmas in the United States, and the global picture wasn't much better.
During the most recent reporting week, US-based album sales dropped another 10% year-over-year, and 20% below first-week results according to Nielsen Soundscan.
Alicia Keys topped the charts with sales of 70,267, a modest tally that outperformed a Radiohead total of 68,784.
Overall unit sales reached roughly 7.25 million during the week. The latest rockiness follows an annual drop of 15% in the United States, and a 10% dip in the United Kingdom.
That is prompting some serious changes, most recently a massive restructuring at EMI.
Groundbreaking QTRAX Launch Imminent
Excerpted from the Unofficial QTRAX Blog
QTRAX is the world's first fully-licensed advertising-supported peer-to-peer (P2P) music-sharing service - free to listeners - and offering the largest selection of musical tracks of any authorized online music source and the highest quality of service (QoS) in the industry.
QTRAX will officially launch at MIDEM/MIDEMNET on January 27th and host a series of celebratory events during the conference.
QTRAX proudly launches its breakthrough service offering with not only the licenses, but also the full support, of all major music labels plus many leading independents as well as publishers and other rights-holders.
The company is based in New York, NY, USA and Melbourne, Australia. QTRAX is a subsidiary of Brilliant Technologies Corporation, a publicly traded technology holding company.
Report from CEO Marty Lafferty
 On Monday, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) opened a public comment period on the petition filed by several consumer advocacy groups seeking a declaratory ruling that "the practice by broadband service providers of degrading peer-to-peer (P2P) traffic violates the FCC's Internet Policy Statement," and that such practices fall outside of what the FCC calls "reasonable network management."
In November, Free Press, Public Knowledge, Media Access Project, and Consumers Union had complained to the FCC, calling upon the Commission to stop Comcast, the largest US cable operator, from violating customer rights.
The FCC will also examine a petition from leading P2P firm Vuze that asks for clarification of what constitutes such behavior. A key question is whether carriers should be prohibited from blocking, degrading, or "unreasonably" discriminating against "lawful Internet applications, content, or technologies."
Under the FCC's 2005 Internet Policy Statement, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are allowed to engage in reasonable network management. At the same time, subscribers are allowed to access lawful content and to run applications and services of their choice, and connect legal devices to the network.
The FCC principles set forth a policy "that broadband networks are widely deployed, open, affordable, and accessible to all consumers."
Vuze argues that ISPs should be able to manage specifically targeted traffic rather than affecting an entire class of applications (e.g., all users of BitTorrent protocol) and that this management should be completely transparent to end-users.
In addition, there are growing concerns among many industry observers about prejudicial treatment of content delivery services that compete with such services that are owned-and-operated by carriers, exacerbated by Comcast's launch of FanCast at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) last week.
The agency is also seeking feedback on how to handle a third petition dealing with wireless companies' policies for shuttling text messages.
In addition this week, Comcast, whose shares lost thirty-five percent (35%) of their value in the last year, received a letter from the FCC Enforcement Bureau asking that it respond in writing by January 25th regarding accusations that it is blocking access to certain file-sharing applications.
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin had indicated last week at the CES that the Commission would investigate to ensure that customers were not being blocked.
He directed FCC staff to "investigate any kind of complaint about anything being blocked, and to make sure no consumer's being blocked from a particular type of access in a discriminatory type of way.''
Comcast has previously admitted to delaying P2P traffic when usage levels were high, but has denied that P2P access was being blocked.
After Chairman Martin's announcement, Comcast pledged to "work with the Commission" on the issue.
The letter Comcast received from the FCC is different and separate from the three dockets outlined above that the Commission has opened asking for public comment on various broadband network practices.
Meanwhile, we laud the ongoing work of the P4P Working Group (P4PWG), chaired by Verizon's Doug Pasko and Pando Networks' Laird Popkin, which is now expanding to field tests as well as the exploration of a broader array of prospective solutions.
The objectives of the P4PWG include to provide ISPs with the ability to optimize utilization of network resources while enhancing service levels for P2P traffic; to provide P2P software distributors with the ability to accelerate content delivery while enhancing efficient usage of ISP bandwidth; and to provide researchers who are developing P4P mechanisms with the support to advance and the ability to publish their work.
The P4PWG is also endeavoring to determine, validate, and encourage the adoption of methods for ISPs and P2P software distributors to work together to enable and support consumer service improvements as P2P adoption and resultant traffic evolves while protecting the intellectual property (IP) of participating entities; and to establish appropriate and voluntary best practices for the deployment of P4P mechanisms to meet the above identified objectives in a way that can be sustained by all of the necessary participants.
The Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau will accept comments until February 13th and reply-comments until February 28th. After reviewing submissions, the FCC is expected to determine whether to grant what the petitioners are requesting, as well as whether there is a need to create new rules governing this area.
The DCIA intends to comment to the FCC, encourages our Member companies to do so, and welcomes DCINFO readers to provide your input by calling 410-476-7965 or e-mailing FCCPC@dcia.info this week.
Or, if you would like to comment directly on this rule-making proceeding, you may use the FCC's Electronic Comment Filing System (referencing WC Docket no. 07-52). Share wisely, and take care.
FCC Wins Praise for Net Neutrality Inquiries
Excerpted from Computer World Report
Two public interest groups praised the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for opening three inquiries into network traffic management practices by broadband providers and mobile phone carriers.
The FCC announced yesterday that it plans to launch inquires into the blocking of some text messages on mobile phone networks and the slowing of P2P traffic. It also said it would try to determine what constitutes reasonable broadband traffic management. The three inquires are based on complaints by public interest groups such as Public Knowledge and Free Press and by Vuze, a company that uses the BitTorrent P2P protocol to distribute web-based video.
Public Knowledge, Free Press, Vuze, and other organizations filed complaints with the FCC last year in the wake of news reports that broadband provider Comcast had slowed BitTorrent traffic.
Comcast spokeswoman Sena Fitzmaurice confirmed today that Comcast has received a letter from the FCC asking the broadband provider to describe its traffic management practices. The FCC inquiry more broadly targets broadband traffic management by all broadband providers.
Comcast repeated a statement it released last week when FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said he planned to look into the complaints. Comcast believes its actions constitute "reasonable network management" and are "necessary for the good of all customers," the statement said. Comcast does not halt access to any website or services, including P2P services, the statement said.
Public Knowledge, Free Press, and other groups have pushed the FCC and the US Congress to adopt so-called Net neutrality rules, which would prohibit broadband providers from blocking or slowing web content from competitors. Comcast and other providers have argued that some network management is needed to protect customers against bandwidth hogs.
Public Knowledge praised the FCC for its three new inquires, saying the investigations will help define consumer rights online.
"These inquiries will go a long way to setting out a road map for determining who will control the Internet," Public Knowledge President Gigi Sohn said. "We anticipate that at the end of the day, consumers will have more control over their Internet and wireless experiences than they do now."
Free Press also praised the FCC.
"Free speech should be protected everywhere - whether it's text messages, phone calls, e-mails or the Internet," Ben Scott, Free Press' policy director, said. "The FCC has started to respond to a growing public outcry, but they shouldn't drag their feet."
Vuze Enjoys Growth Surge
Excerpted from Information Week Report by Richard Martin
While controversy swirls around the struggle between traditional big-pipe entertainment providers to the home - specifically the cable carriers and namely Comcast, the nation's largest cable TV service - and providers of online P2P content services, particularly BitTorrent, the market for online movies and other forms of content continues to grow apace.
That growth is benefiting startups like Vuze, the P2P service launched last year by Azureus, one of the biggest BitTorrent client software providers.
Calling itself "the world's most popular entertainment platform for DVD-quality and HD video content," Vuze claims to have signed up 17 million subscribers since its launch one year ago and says it's adding 2 million users per month.
Last month the Palo Alto, CA company announced a $20 million funding round led by New Enterprise Associates. NEA Managing Director Mike Ramsay, the Co-Rounder and former CEO of TiVo, joined the Vuze Board of Directors.
Vuze has become involved in the effort to force Comcast to stop slowing traffic on its network devoted to big file-sharing programs, particularly BitTorrent - which is now thought to account for as much as 50% of all Internet traffic in the United States. On November 14th, Vuze filed a petition with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) demanding that the Commission set rules governing traffic management by large ISPs, and that ISPs be forced to publicly reveal their policies toward traffic filtering and "shaping."
Comcast has been under fire since an October report by The Associated Press demonstrating that the cable company has been blocking or slowing certain high-traffic applications, specifically BitTorrent downloads. A spokeswoman for the cable company said that Comcast does not block any form of traffic on its network - but it has a right to manage some forms of traffic at certain high-volume times of day for the benefit of all its users.
"It's like a neighborhood or a community," she said. "In some areas when a lot of people are getting home at same time there may be congestion in that area, while in other places P2P traffic is not managed at all."
Advocates of "net neutrality" say that's a bad analogy and that specifically targeting BitTorrent traffic is discriminatory.
"BitTorrent is designed to be an efficient technology - it's remarkably effective for downloading big files," said Marvin Ammori, General Counsel for media activist organization Free Press. "The whole idea that blocking BitTorrent is 'reasonable network management' is silly."
Vuze began life as Azureus, one of the most popular BitTorrent-based tools for sending video files over P2P networks. In the early Azureus days, many of those files infringed copyrights, but Vuze CEO Gilles BianRosa has made it clear that Vuze intends to provide access to legitimate, licensed content.
Vuze has signed licensing agreements with many of the big media providers, including cable broadcaster Showtime and PBS - indicating that content generators will not stand on the sidelines while the large service providers determine how their movies, programs, and music get distributed.
Matters are complicated by the fact that at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) earlier this month, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts announced the launch of FanCast, Comcast's own high-speed download service for TV episodes and other content (but not full-length movies) over the Internet.
"In this new age of interactive media where entertainment is available everywhere," said Amy Banse, President of Comcast Interactive Media, "Fancast helps consumers find what they are looking for and manage their entertainment experience across multiple platforms."
For now "multiple platforms" does not appear to include Vuze. But Comcast and other big access providers are fighting a rearguard action against the P2P onslaught.
Time Warner to Test Pay-Per-Download Plan
Excerpted from MediaPost Report by Wendy Davis
In a move that could reshape the debate about net neutrality, Time Warner will start charging some broadband users access fees based on how much they download each month, rather than assessing a fixed fee unlimited service.
The company Thursday said it planned to start testing the new pricing system this year as part of an effort to manage traffic. "We want the network to maximize returns for all of our customers," said spokesman Alex Dudley, adding that a small number of users currently consume a disproportionate share of bandwidth. "Ninety-five percent of our users would not be the extreme users who are driving this."
Once the test starts, new customers will be offered a choice of four plans that allow them to download set amounts each month - 5, 10, 20, or 40 Gigabytes. As with cell-phone service packages, those who go over their allotment will be charged extra. Time Warner hasn't yet determined the price of each tier. The test will start later this year with new subscribers in Beaumont, TX.
Some advocates for net neutrality - or the principle that Internet service providers (ISPs) should treat traffic equally - said Time Warner's plan sounds like a better approach to traffic management than some other alternatives.
"It's entirely fair and appropriate for carriers who choose to do so to vary their charges to users based on how much those users are consuming," said David Sohn, Senior Policy Counsel at the Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT). "The key is to be agnostic as to what the bandwidth is being used for."
Public Knowledge President Gigi Sohn (no relation to David) also supported the decision. "There are neutral ways to manage the network, this is a good one," she said.
By contrast, Comcast has drawn fire from advocates for slowing down P2P services in what it says is an attempt to manage traffic on its network.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is investigating complaints by Public Knowledge and others that the company violates net neutrality principles by treating traffic to BitTorrent and other bandwidth-hungry P2P services differently from traffic to other websites.
While net neutrality advocates say that Time Warner's metering plan is preferable to interfering with traffic to some sites, some are also afraid that moving away from unlimited pricing will discourage people from using the web.
"Telling consumers they must choose between blocking and metered pricing is a worrying development," Ben Scott, Policy Director of Free Press, said in a statement. "The best answer to any capacity crunch is to build the kind of high-capacity networks available in the world's leading broadband nations."
Public Knowledge's Sohn agreed that any long-term solution to bandwidth problems requires improving the infrastructure. "The ultimate goal has got to be a fatter pipe," Gigi Sohn said.
The Internet is Not Free
Excerpted from Internet News Report by Sean Michael Kerner
There are some stories that get me more riled up then others. The recent news that Time Warner is now, all of a sudden, testing usage-based pricing for its residential broadband customers is once such piece of tech news.
My issue isn't with what Time Warner is trying to do. Rather, my issue is with the perception that the Internet is free - that is, that heavy usage is without cost.
The Internet is not free, and for the most part, it never has been.
The Time Warner story is essentially that they will now have plans tailored to fit the bandwidth usage requirements of users.
To me, and to many others, that's likely to involve usage capping and overage charges. While these terms might have negative connotations, they've both been around for as long as there has been commercial Internet access.
On the enterprise access side, there almost always is a usage cap of some sort. Businesses routinely pay overage charges when they exceed the amount of data to which they're entitled through the ISP plan they've purchased.
If a network administrator has done his or her job properly and accurately assessed their network needs in terms of access, then caps or overage charges shouldn't be issues.
On the residential side, plan limits on Internet usage traditionally have been so generous (and unpublished, except in the fine-print of service agreements) that they've never been much of a real issue for the vast majority of users.
Until relatively recently, residential bandwidth consumption consisted of e-mail and web traffic, neither of which were too demanding. With the new demands of VoIP, P2P applications and bandwidth-intensive web video, residential bandwidth demands have skyrocketed.
And with skyrocketing demand has come what many analysts have said is a decrease in average revenue per user.
There is no such thing as a free lunch, they say. That's true of the Internet access business.
If some users go over a "usage cap" (published or otherwise) and bandwidth demand is increasing (which it is) and carriers aren't making as much money on a per-user basis (they aren't) what's the solution?
It's really a matter of common sense. Just like enterprise users and, of course, hosted server users, residential users need to be reigned in. But just a bit.
While "unlimited" access may sound a lot better than having to accept a usage cap, usage caps aren't necessarily that onerous.
In my experience, a 100GB monthly limit for many residential users is likely all they'll need. That would allow for even large transfers like P2P traffic, which doesn't have to be just for copyright infringing purposes either as some have alleged.
I have a 100GB monthly transfer cap. I use BitTorrent every day to leech and seed Linux distributions. I download movies on iTunes and I also use VoIP as my principal voice platform.
So in my experience, that cap isn't too shabby. Sure, I'd like the idea of totally unlimited Internet, but I know that everyone has got to make a living and that the Internet is not free.
The carrier networks are under incredible pressures now due to the increased network demands placed on them by residential users. I know full well from my efforts here at Internet News across countless briefings, interviews, and stories that the carriers are struggling to deploy faster networks, 40G now and 100G soon, that will exponentially increase network capacity.
Someone has to pay for that, and it only makes that users in some way are responsible for what they use.
I've read some media accounts that compare what Time Warner is doing to Comcast's alleged BitTorrent throttling. In my view that's a bit like comparing apples and oranges - while they're both fruits with vitamin C, they are different.
In fact, a good deal of what Comcast is doing also is not properly understood. Let's begin with a concept: traffic shaping, which is something that every sane network administrator in America should be doing today.
What traffic shaping does is it helps to prioritize traffic, such that low-latency traffic gets priority over traffic that isn't at risk from latency.
For example, it makes a lot of sense for an enterprise network to prioritize VoIP traffic, since it is at risk from latency - which could cause packet loss and jitter. On a phone call, if you suffer from either, you lose words and aren't able to have a full conversation.
In contrast, P2P (and leave your feelings about its usage at the door) is not at risk from latency. The transfer will still happen even with some latency - though it may be delayed by a second or two. For voice conversations over VoIP, a second or two is unacceptable.
Traffic throttling, which is a byproduct of traffic shaping, essentially goes a little further in slowing down certain traffic (and in some cases blocking it) to allow higher priority traffic.
Traffic shaping is good network policy to maintain the integrity of networks, both carrier and enterprise. While I don't agree with full-fledged traffic blocking (aside from botnet-type traffic), prioritization is not something that should be taboo.
Fundamentally, it's about recognizing that network resources are finite and that there are costs associated with access.
I think it's great to insulate residential users from the larger network issues - they just don't need to know. What they do need, however, is responsible disclosure from their network access providers so they can choose the access that fits their needs and get what they pay for.
AHT Releases P2P-Enabled STB Tribbox
Advanced Home Technologies (AHT), a new Dutch set-top-box manufacturer, has released a revolutionary product for the open-source community called the Tribbox, supported by ST Microelectronics and TU Delft, developer of Tribler P2P software.
The Tribbox is a new generation set-top box (STB), which connects the TV to the Internet. It can also be used as a hard-disk recorder, for Internet telephony, and for digital TV. Since the product's software is released under open-source license, the technology is also available for broad experimentation and innovative integration into new products.
The Tribbox is based on STMicroelectronics' ST7109 HDTV single chip H264 decoder, embedding a real time Linux OS, and Tribler P2P software.
Tribler was developed at Delft University of Technology in cooperation with the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. These two renowned academic institutions also offer their support of developers making use of their Tribler P2P application.
The Tribler P2P technology can be used to exchange files, movies, and music and to watch television.
Furthermore, Tribler is "social" software, which means that within Tribler, users can meet their friends and taste-buddies. These related persons can help in finding and downloading sought-after content. The more a user helps others, the more he or she may expect in return.
The TU Delft is very pleased that Tribler is being used in an open-source STB, since Tribler has been developed as an open platform for watching film and music in a pleasant way.
Tribbox runs Linux and is delivered with all documentation, programming guides, and development software, as well as a Linux desktop distribution with many sample programs.
The Tribbox developer system is a member of AHT's ST7109 based family of business-to-business (OEM) and business-to-consumer products. The first consumer product "Ariana Media Center," released under AHT's own "Allsii" consumer brand, was introduced at CES earlier this month.
Tribbox is available directly from AHT's online Alsii Shop.
Abacast Delivers 95% P2P Efficiency
Abacast, a world leader in hybrid P2P technologies and services, successfully deployed Abacast's client technology with leading Korean broadcaster, FutureStream Networks.
Utilizing Abacast's hybrid P2P technology, FutureStream Networks achieved over 95% reduction in bandwidth requirement for a 500 kbps live video stream and supported over 35,000 concurrent users for the third largest South Korean media company.
The hybrid P2P live streaming technology reduced the bandwidth required to carry the simulcast channels by over 5Gbps and also significantly reduced the number of servers, networking components, and soft costs associated with carrying the broadcast online while keeping the stream quality as high as standard streaming technologies for every user.
Sun Jin Lee, CEO of FutureStream Networks, said, "The Abacast hybrid P2P solution enables FutureStream Networks to meet their growing audience demands, while achieving much greater cost efficiencies over traditional unicast streaming. Revenue growth in the South Korean streaming media market is forecasted to increase 20% annually in 2008 and 2009 and employing the Abacast solution will allow us to profitably reach the largest possible audience.
We chose content from a high profile customer to utilize with the Abacast solution and our streams demonstrated outstanding quality and network efficiency. Abacast is the only solution we have looked at that provides a cost effective yet high quality experience. The best stream comes from our interest in consistently developing and utilizing the best technology and we believe Abacast's technology fits that definition."
"With over 42 million downloaded Abacast clients, and our unique ability to seamlessly blend unicast and P2P connectivity, Abacast has proven that it can deliver a high quality hybrid P2P streaming media experience anywhere in the world. This is a testament to the superiority of Abacast's solution. Further, we are obviously very excited that FutureStream Networks chose content from such an important media provider to showcase Abacast's hybrid P2P solution," said Mike King, President of Abacast.
"This achievement provides Abacast with an additional opportunity to showcase the capability of our hybrid P2P technology. The fact that we can simultaneously achieve up to 95% efficiencies at a 500 kbps live P2P video stream with no change to the end-user experience is fantastic."
P2P Service Jaman Signs Deal with TiVo
Excerpted from TechCrunch Report by Mike Butcher
Jaman, the San Mateo, CA based P2P web movie service, has struck a deal whereby TiVo subscribers will be able to access Jaman's catalog of American independent (think Sundance Film Festival) and international film titles directly from their TiVo DVRs.
Viewers will be able to rent and buy films starting at $1.99, with a number of shorts and full-length films available to download for free. Jaman uses its own proprietary DRM.
Jaman developed an unofficial plug-in for the first version of the AppleTV device which syncs content downloaded via the Jaman player. We'll have to see if it works on AppleTV II.
Babelgum is closest to Jaman's model, with it's emphasis on independent professionally produced video content, but Jaman is about downloading high quality HD films to rent or keep, rather than P2P streaming.
Jaman has a lot of competition in the movie downloading market, but most competitors focus on Hollywood movies, rather than the 'fat belly' of the 'long tail.'
Since 99% of films made do not get theatrical distribution, there is a lot of content out there. Jaman has been quietly building its catalog of movies and is available on PCs, Macs, SanDisk's TakeTV, and DivX.
Founder & CEO Gaurav Dhillon previously co-founded Informatica in 1992, which IPO'd in 1999. Jaman backers include the Hearst Corporation.
P2P Network Invites Drivers to Get Connected
Excerpted from Guardian Unlimited Report
The name BitTorrent has become part of most people's day-to-day vernacular, synonymous with downloading every kind of content via the Internet's P2P networks. But if a team of US researchers have their way, we may all be talking about CarTorrent in the not too distant future.
Researchers from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) are working on a wireless communication network that will allow cars to talk to each other, simultaneously downloading information in the shape of road safety warnings, entertainment content, and navigational tools.
The UCLA Engineering's Network Research Lab team, led by Mario Gerla and Giovanni Pau, hit upon the idea in 2004, when P2P networking took off fuelled by applications such as BitTorrent.
"We had the idea from BitTorrent, and decided to extend BitTorrent to cars under the name of CarTorrent. One of our dreams had always been to apply the technology to civilian applications," says Gerla. "Imagine you're driving to a beach resort and want to find out what the best beaches are. You could stop at a gas station and download several video clips from an Internet access point, but that's not very convenient."
Gerla and his team instead propose to connect cars to one another using the wireless networking platform they're developing, which could be up and running by as early as 2012.
The wireless network would allow moving vehicles within 100 meters and 300 meters of each other to connect and create a network with a wide range. The network would then allow drivers to download information from Internet access points simply by driving by, and then share that information with other cars on the road.
Gerla says the benefits of such a network are numerous: "There will be immediate benefits in driving safety as well as in content distribution. Car-to-car communications can be used to avoid accidents by alerting the drivers of imminent danger. To prevent a crash we must act in fractions of a second. We are currently collaborating with vehicle manufacturers to help reduce accidents and fatalities on the road. For this latter application, vehicles are equipped with sensing devices, such as radars and video cameras."
The network uses standard radio protocols such as Digital Short Range Communication, or DSRC, combined with wireless LAN technology at 5.9GHz (not Wi-Fi's 2.4GHz) to create networks between vehicles equipped with onboard sensing devices. These devices can gather safety-related information as well as other complex multimedia data.
By far the most essential aspect of this network, though, is that it is not subject to memory, processing, storage and energy limitations like traditional sensor networks. Instead, it relies on the resources of the vehicle itself, along with those vehicles around it.
Under the scheme, cars would be able to use their onboard radios to exchange three categories of information: safe navigation (such as reporting on icy road conditions, traffic jams and possible collisions ahead), content distribution (locally relevant information, advertisements and videos of upcoming attractions) and urban surveillance (collecting information which could be used later by police for forensic investigations).
Gerla and his team are already collaborating with car manufacturers such as Toyota and BMW on bringing the project to life.
As DRM Fades Here Come the Ads
Excerpted from BetaNews Report by Tim Conneally
Numerous music industry heads at a panel discussion at CES last week displayed favor for the ad-supported, subscription-based models of music sales as we move away from DRM. Today, a major online music store that rejected DRM since it opened - and was not represented on the panel - is showing similar interest.
Amazon, which claims to offer over 3.25 million DRM-free MP3s for sale, announced a promotional alliance with soft drink company Pepsi that is scheduled to begin on Super Bowl Sunday. Pepsi products will be marked with "points" that customers can collect and redeem for MP3s on Amazon.
There is no word yet on how much one will have to spend to get a single music file, but Pepsi says that over 4 billion bottles will be circulated in the promotion.
Terry McBride, CEO of Nettwerk Music Group, in the panel discussion last week at CES asked why something like this did not already exist: "Why can't Amazon have a download store where songs are 25 cents with ads?" Just like cable, he continued to say, where users pay for the service, but it is subsidized by advertisers who can bring the overall price down?
Watermarks May Replace DRM for Big Music
Excerpted from MediaPost Report
While the demise of current digital rights management (DRM) implementation is being predicted, the music industry is already experimenting with a new DRM substitute.
So-called "watermarking" could offer Big Music the copy protection it craves by letting companies track where digital music files end up - particularly, file-sharing networks.
The technology would impart a unique serial number that lets music companies match digital files to the original purchaser.
However, the big four record labels have thus far shunned the technology: Warner and EMI have yet to touch it at all, while Sony and Universal have attached "anonymous" watermarks to files that don't trace back to individuals.
Experts say the data would provide the music industry with the material it needs to address open P2P file-sharing networks, where copyrighted content is freely traded. The industry could also use the data to persuade Internet service providers (ISPs) to implement copyright filtering technologies.
As BigChampagne CEO Eric Garland said, watermarked traffic can be watched with "forensic precision. Any empirical evidence that harm is being done to their legitimate business is a huge asset when it comes to their bargaining power with ISPs and third-party partners." Please click here for the full Wired News report.
Joost Loses CTO & Hires Comcast Exec
Excerpted from Silicon Alley Insider Report by Jay Yarrow
Peer-to-peer television (P2PTV) service Joost lost Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Dirk-Willem van Gulik to the BBC, and announced Thursday it had hired a Comcast veteran to take over engineering operations and build a second hub for the peer-to-peer television (P2PTV) company in New York.
Matt Zelesko becomes Senior Vice President (SVP) of Engineering for Joost, based in New York and in charge of all of the company's engineering operations. Zelesko comes to Joost from Comcast Interactive Media, where he worked on a number of their web video sites, including FanCast.
Before Comcast, Zelesko also worked for Voyance and with Joost CEO Mike Volpi when both were at Cisco Systems. Said Volpi of his new hire, "I've known Matt for many years and I'm confident that he is the ideal person to lead Joost's engineering organization."
The BBC says that former Joost CTO Guilk will be in charge of developing "back-end infrastructure" for the next group of BBC websites as well as maintaining their current sites. Van Gulik will join BBC Future Media and Technology as the division's Chief Technical Architect.
Veoh Hires Sales Vets from Dow Jones & Google
Excerpted from ClickZ Network Report by Fred Aun
Three-year-old P2PTV company Veoh Networks has hired two online advertising veterans to its sales staff and is preparing to open an office in New York City.
The privately held, California-based company said it snagged Michael Henry from Dow Jones and Ron Carpinella from Google.
Henry, who was VP of Integrated Corporate Sales & Marketing at Dow Jones, joins as Senior Vice President of Advertising Sales. He will be based in New York and oversee the opening of a new Veoh office here.
"When Mike joined Dow Jones, they were in the process of inventing the online marketing opportunity for advertisers with the Wall Street Journal," said Veoh CEO Steve Mitgang. "We are in a similar phase. What will be the new constructs, the new methodologies and ways to engage marketers? I think there's a parallel in his experience that actually works well for us."
Carpinella, hired as Veoh's Director of Eastern Sales, led Google's Southern United States Sales & Operations.
"While online video advertising is maturing as an industry, it is still relatively new," said Mitgang, who himself came to Veoh in July from Yahoo following a wide-ranging staff reorganization.
He added hiring seasoned vets is essential because Veoh doesn't want to "re-learn some of the basic things we all understand" about advertising.
"We want to take that learning, apply it here and find out what's unique about this environment... to really build the connections between brand and audience."
Veoh reports its audience has grown an average of 20 percent monthly during the past year, reaching 23 million unique monthly viewers.
European File-Sharing Campaign
Excerpted from TorrentFreak Report
Greens EFA, a coalition of two political parties that currently have 42 seats in the European parliament, have launched a pro file-sharing campaign called I Wouldn't Steal. Their goal is to counter the anti-piracy propaganda put forward by the entertainment industry, and to encourage people to download and share.
The message put forward by the parties is pretty strong. "Whenever you rent a movie, the multinational media industry forces you to watch their propaganda. They claim that downloading movies is the same as snatching bags, stealing cars, or shoplifting. That's simply not true - making a copy is fundamentally different from stealing."
Greens EFA claims that the entertainment industry exploits artists and sells propaganda, and wants to make the public aware of this. It is good to see that these established political parties are attempting to decriminalize file sharing.
As they write, "The media industry has failed to offer viable legal alternatives and they will fail to convince consumers that sharing equals stealing. Unfortunately, they have succeeded in another area - lobbying to adapt laws to criminalize sharing, turning consumers into criminals."
In collaboration with RaFILM, the parties created a short clip for the campaign, which they are distributing via BitTorrent.
How Pirates Will Change the Entertainment Industry
Excerpted from TorrentFreak Report by Matt Mason
A few months ago, the writer and NYU professor Clay Shirky told me he thought DRM was a "nostalgic" idea. Nostalgic is the best adjective I've heard to describe how most large entertainment companies think about controlling their content in a digital era. Big media continue to view the situation through rose-tinted spectacles while consumers see red. When being a pirate is the easiest way for people to access the content they want in the format they want it in, then something has gone very, very wrong.
There isn't a moral defense for stealing in most cases. But there isn't a moral defense for invading people's privacy and imposing draconian laws to protect outdated, crumbling business models either. Music and movie piracy is rampant because, over the last ten years, the market has utterly failed to provide a wide range of preferable legitimate solutions. If this continues as bandwidth increases and download speeds accelerate, the entertainment industry will be left in ruins. Many think that needs to happen for new business models to form. I think those currently in power simply need to grow a set and confront the reality of the situation.
So far the search for new revenue streams by the big labels and studios has only turned up one that they seem to be comfortable with: the legal department. It's impossibly difficult and expensive for the average consumer to use music legally in podcasts, on websites, in remixes, or in public speeches, for example. But if you do decide to use music illegally, it's entirely possible that a huge team of lawyers will come at you like a troop of rabid spider-monkeys. Instead of looking at real solutions, all the labels seem to be doing is exacerbating their problems.
Pretending the current laws or legitimate options for consuming movies and music online are in some way going to stop piracy from turning the entire entertainment business into a giant anarchic swap-meet is like pretending recycling plastic water bottles will single-handedly end global warming. The problem is the entertainment business doesn't recognize the giant anarchic swap-meet for what it really is: a great way for them to make a ton of money.
CD sales are in freefall, (the arrival of the Mac Book Air this week was perhaps the final death knell for the format) and the legal department is clearly not a viable long-term revenue stream. A more efficient way to monetize how we consume music online (and other goods with zero marginal production costs) is not to think about monetizing them in terms of sales, but instead in terms of licenses.
This is already beginning to happen. Deals like the "Comes With Music" partnership struck between Universal and Nokia last month may feel like "one step forward, two steps back," but at least we're finally heading in the right direction. And the fact that all the majors are starting to work with legitimate file-sharing models like iMeem is encouraging.
The solution we are slowly moving towards is a voluntary collective license for music, which consumers could choose to pay, or not. It needs to work all over the world. National boundaries don't apply to this kind of information anymore. To pretend they do is as nostalgic a notion as DRM.
Organizations such as ASCAP or the BMI could fulfill this role. This system wouldn't be a tax; there would be no cap on the amount of money an artist or label could earn; innovation would not be stifled.
Bennett Lincoff wrote a paper this time last year which I believe could be the answer. The EFF is also supportive of a similar solution, which they outlined in a 2004 paper:
"The concept is simple: the music industry forms a collecting society, which then offers file-sharing music fans the opportunity to 'get legit' in exchange for a reasonable regular payment, say $5 per month. So long as they pay, the fans are free to keep doing what they are going to do anyway-share the music they love using whatever software they like on whatever computer platform they prefer-without fear of lawsuits. The money collected gets divided among rights-holders based on the popularity of their music.
In exchange, file-sharing music fans will be free to download whatever they like, using whatever software works best for them. The more people share, the more money goes to rights-holders. The more competition in applications, the more rapid the innovation and improvement. The more freedom to fans to publish what they care about, the deeper the catalog."
For those interested, Matt's book The Pirate's Dilemma: How Youth Culture Is Reinventing Capitalism is out now through Free Press, and probably soon on a BitTorrent tracker near you.
Coming Events of Interest
MIDEM/MIDEMNET - January 26th-31st at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, France. Never has there been such demand for music. With 10,000 music and technology professionals from over 90 countries, MIDEM connects you with the players matching this unprecedented demand. Delegates from the recording, publishing, live, digital, mobile, and branding sectors gather to do deals, network, learn, and check out new talent.
QTRAX Launch - January 27th at 10:00 AM in Auditorium K at the Palais des Festivals during MIDEMNET in Cannes, France. This is the long-awaited official launch of QTRAX, the world's first free-and-legal P2P music service. A history-making, start-studded, special event followed by a gala champagne brunch.
Digital Music Forum East - February 26th-27th in New York, NY. Major and indie music label executives, artists, technology and consumer electronics leaders come together for this "must attend" event. Now in its 8th year, Digital Music Forum East is the leading event focused on the intersection of technology and music.
P2P ADVERTISING UPFRONT NY - March 11th in New York, NY in conjunction with the Media Summit New York (MSNY). The industry's premiere marketplace focused on the unique global advertising, sponsorship, and cross-promotional opportunities available in the steadily growing universe of open and closed P2P, file-sharing, P2PTV, and social networks, as well as peer-assisted content delivery networks (CDNs).
Media Summit New York - The fifth annual MSNY, March 12th-13th in New York, NY. Jointly produced by Digital Hollywood, McGraw-Hill, Business Week, and Standard & Poor's. Keynoting this year will be Robert Iger, President & CEO, The Walt Disney Company.
P2P MEDIA SUMMIT LA - May 4th in Los Angeles, CA. The third annual P2P MEDIA SUMMIT LA. The DCIA's flagship event featuring keynotes from industry-leading P2P and social network operators; tracks on policy, technology and marketing; panel discussions covering content distribution and solutions development; valuable workshops; networking opportunities; and more.
Digital Hollywood Spring - May 5th-8th in Los Angeles, CA. With many new sessions and feature events, DHS has become the premiere digital entertainment conference and exposition. DCIA Member companies will exhibit and speak on a number of panels.
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