January 14, 2008
Volume XX, Issue 8
The Power of Commercial P2P
In today's consumer-driven marketplace, content owners are discovering both challenges and opportunities in delivering on the promise of a rich-media Internet experience. Among the keys to success is the efficient and cost-effective delivery of rights-protected content.
Peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing networks have proven to be popular because of their efficiency in helping consumers discover and obtain the files they seek.
Commercial P2P environments can maintain security and integrity of content, provide a high-quality experience that enhances the relationship between consumers and content owners, integrate with essential business systems such as content management and rights management, efficiently manage P2P network traffic to minimize the cost of distribution, and scale in a seamless and reliable manner.
Branded content providers are looking for a commercial delivery solution that addresses the consumer desire for access to content while enabling content owners to support rights of use.
Download the VeriSign white paper The Power of Commercial Peer-to-Peer Delivery to learn how this can be accomplished.
VeriSign is the trusted provider of Internet infrastructure services for the digital world. Billions of times each day, companies and consumers rely on VeriSign's Internet infrastructure to communicate and conduct commerce with confidence.
Big Thinkers & Disruptive Technologies
Excerpted from ZDNet Report by Dan Farber
The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is about the size of 36 football fields and exhausting, and so are the names of some of the conference sessions.
"Big Thinkers and Disruptive Technologies: Today's Thought Leaders and Tomorrow's Technologies," featured panelists Dave Habiger, CEO of Sonic Solutions; Levy Gerzberg, CEO of Zoran; Shane Robison, EVP and Chief Strategy & Technical Officer at HP; Terry McBride, CEO of Nettwerk Music Group; and Owen Van Natta, Chief Revenue Officer at Facebook. Tim Bajarin, Principal Analyst at Creative Strategies, moderated the session.
Chipmaker Gerzberg said the next explosive, disruptive technology will be evolutionary and related to the availability of smarter silicon, which is what his company produces. He envisions life extension through technology, via what he called "consumer medical electronics."
HP CTO Robison talked about a shift from device-centric to connection-centric computing. "Instead of one product that does everything, the question is how to make sure all the products support the service interfaces we want to use," he said. "We really have an opportunity to have a wide range of devices that can be used anytime anywhere and in any context, and support access to services we are interested in."
Facebook's Van Natta called the open source software movement one of the biggest disruptors. Facebook was built on a number of open source products and the social networking company contributes to various projects. Van Natta said that Facebook's founder Mark Zuckerberg only had $85 to spend per month on hosting, and if he had to pay for software he might not have started the company.
He also brought up another disruptive area close to Facebook's heart - identity and reputation on the web. "We think there is a movement afoot that is all about the socialization of the web," Van Natta said. "So much of what we do is influenced by friends and people important in our lives and people with certain credibility."
Terry McBride's Nettwerk Music Group produces music and manages artists, including the Barenaked Ladies and Avril Lavigne. He has some interesting ideas about further transforming the music industry. "When music is free there will be a tipping point, where price will compete with free," McBride said. "iTunes at 99 cents represents 10 percent of the market. Ninety percent is free, so the value is more like 10 cents. Imagine a drop in price to 25 cents and you capture 50 percent."
Basically McBride thinks that dropping the price and eliminating locks on the content will make all parties happy. It remains to be seen if a quarter a song would compel those who don't pay to start. "You should be able to ping a song to friends or allow them purchase songs, so there should be 200 million retail stores, but the industry has to give up control," he said.
McBride has been experimenting with Barenaked Ladies, allowing fans to purchase a digital version of a concert on a USB stick or online immediately after it concludes, and adding all kinds of extras.
"We made about the same as selling 5 million albums last year," he said.
Report from CEO Marty Lafferty
 We heartily congratulate Gary Shapiro and the entire CEA organization for their stellar work on 2008 CES International, the largest and best managed trade show in the world. The DCIA is proud to be an Allied Association, and we especially commend CEA on its Digital Freedom initiative.
Thank you again to all who made our first-ever P2P MEDIA SUMMIT Conference within CES such a success. Event presentations are now being posted online here. Videos from the summit, produced by Abacast, will be posted soon as well.
We are also grateful to Victor Harwood and Digital Hollywood for providing the platform for us to present Next Generation P2P at CES.
And in particular, we thank BitTorrent's Ashwin Navin, Orrick's Gabe Ramsey, Itiva's Jerry Pierce, The Copyright Alliance's Pat Ross, ContentGuard's Rob Logan, the Digital Watermarking Alliance's Reed Stager, and Pando Networks' Robert Levitan.
Ashwin offered the statistic that BitTorrent software is now active on 160 million PCs and is projected to double in twelve months, and shared the news that 5 million BitTorrent-enabled devices will ship this quarter. P2P is not just about cost avoidance, but rather it's about scalability and user experience.
BitTorrent has entered into licensing agreements with some 60 media companies as a result of a concerted effort to build trust with the entertainment industry. At this juncture, it is clear that not all P2P clients are created equal, and that consumer utility is a critical component for success. P2P can extend shareholder value for content companies by extending their reach. Internet service providers (ISPs) need to work with the P2P industry to overcome limitations of legacy asymmetrical networks and fully realize the potential benefits of P2P.
Gabe's work as an attorney has afforded him insights into technologies that are starting to engage in filtering. In this regard, increasingly, P2P firms recognize that allowing content to be distributed in the wild is not acceptable. Among alternatives to copyright infringement, subscription-based models show great promise.
The outcome of the US Supreme Court's landmark MGM v. Grokster decision could have been a lot worse for the P2P industry. As it turned out, the focus of the ruling was narrowly on intent. On the other side of the equation, content companies can benefit from using empathetic techniques to understand the perspective of P2P firms. There will be improvements in the user experience in the next couple of years that augur well for commercial development of P2P distribution of music and film.
Jerry outlined Itiva's solutions that are designed to satisfy both content rights holders and consumers. He voiced the view that P2P has the potential to be an attractive as well as cost-effective means of distributing content - provided that intermingling of unauthorized material with licensed content can be mitigated. A key motivation to use P2P will continue to be to reduce distribution costs.
An important takeaway from the ongoing copyright litigation is that P2P technology itself is not under attack, but rather, inappropriate usages of it are. In this regard, it behooves P2P companies to put their commercially viable solutions in front of content rights holders. Good ecosystems need to be developed for Internet delivery of content. It will take time for this to come to fruition.
Pat noted that his major content provider members increasingly seek to reach consumers in diverse ways. A serious obstacle remains, however, because the vast majority of P2P-distributed content continues to be unauthorized. The MGM v. Grokster decision was helpful in fostering the nascent P2P industry and led to a healthier marketplace.
It's incumbent on P2P companies now to demonstrate to content providers that their offerings respect intellectual property (IP), generate new sources of revenue, and deliver files with a high-level quality of service (QoS). There are a lot of intelligent people in the technology sector. In the digital realm, there will be many successful models and some will surely utilize P2P.
Rob opined that P2P is more user-centric than traditional client-server architecture and is well-suited to encourage social networking. Personal referrals of content can be powerful. Internet users increasingly share video content or links to it. For P2P to reach its potential, it must demonstrate that content owners' rights can be upheld as files are being redistributed.
For their parts, content providers should embrace new technologies such as P2P and realize there are new opportunities for revenue generation. P2P can accelerate its commercial acceptance by being built into devices and simplifying user interfaces (UIs). In the next two years, systems are going to be established whereby consumers will be rewarded for using P2P to help redistribute content rather than being punished for using P2P.
Reed indicated that the DWA has grown to 20 companies and that US consumers now typically interact with digitally watermarked products three or four times daily. The technology also holds enormous potential to help monetize content in P2P distribution. Justice Byer's opinion in Grokster was significant in that it pointed to legitimate uses of P2P.
Although young people are accustomed to accessing content online for free, attractive solutions are emerging to support revenue models. Industry players now have pieces of them in place that need to be assembled. Content rights holders can exploit P2P by using digital watermarks as persistent content identifiers. Operating system providers can expand what they are doing to benefit consumers with a richer experience.
Robert described Pando's core functionality as a developer of a P2P media delivery platform. In terms of industry needs, relations between ISPs and P2Ps need to improve, and the P4P Working Group, founded by Pando CTO Laird Popkin and Verizon's Doug Pasko, is addressing that. Consumers need more choices for licensed video online, and Pando is working with NBC, among others, on directly distributing content via P2P.
The legal landscape is shifting and P2P firms are aware of their responsibilities. While early P2P consumer adoption caught the entertainment industry unprepared, P2P is now being harnessed to reduce distribution costs by 75% while supporting trackable content. The Internet is becoming the medium for content distribution and P2P will be fully integrated.
Audience questions ranged from power consumption to USB wireless connectivity. Several panelists believe that over the next two years, there will be a reduction in the current relatively high level of self-consciousness among companies involved with P2P technologies.
A measure of industry success will be when the "Next Generation P2P" panel at CES is superseded by discussions of successful business model implementations. Share wisely, and take care.
When Artists Speak Out
Excerpted from CEA SmartBrief
What happens when you take four smart, innovative artists, a smart, innovative record executive, throw in a couple of microphones, and add water?
You get a great discussion on the future of the music industry and the influence of technology on art that is - you guessed it - innovative and smart. That's exactly what CES attendees were treated to at the Digital Freedom panel on Technology, Copyright, and Making a Living - The Artists Speak.
If you missed the panel, you can check out awesome new videos from artists Samantha Murphy and Middle Distance Runner on what Digital Freedom means to them and why the integration of technology and art are integral to their success.
Structuring a Decentralized World
Excerpted from IEET Report by Edward Miller
P2P is a decentralized mode of data distribution. The best examples of P2P are file-sharing networks. Napster was the first big one, but there quickly arose a variety of others. Gnutella is an open source and fully decentralized P2P network. Recently, the open source BitTorrent protocol has become immensely popular. Each of these networks and protocols can be connected to using client software, such as the open source program FrostWire.
What is great about these sorts of systems is that if independent artists, filmmakers, musicians, or programmers want to share their creations, they don't need to invest in multi-million dollar server computers, nor rent such servers, in order to make their content available to people. This is also great for those who are downloading, since they get incredibly fast download speeds.
Another development in the world of decentralization is distributed computing. Grid computing has long been common practice. Using lots of smaller processors in unison to create larger computers or even supercomputers has been standard practice for those with large computing needs, typically governments and large corporations or institutions. Unfortunately, it is incredibly costly and cannot be afforded by just anyone.
Distributed computing is a way to make use of numerous computers over the Internet to split up tasks and have them all work together to solve a single problem. Thus, if many people donate their spare processing power, especially when their computers are idle such as in screensaver mode, a project could have a functional supercomputer without the cost.
There is an open source software program called BOINC that facilitates the majority of these type of projects. One of the most famous distributed computing projects was SETI@home which was sponsored by NASA to look for signs of intelligent life. There are many other uses of this technology though, such as Rosetta@home and Folding@home which are studying the structure and folding mechanisms of proteins, which can lead to new cures for diseases and anti-aging therapies.
Throughout history, as new technologies have been created, there has usually been a mad rush to conquer and own them. When the printing press was invented, the manufacture of consent was born. At the same time, people began using this technology to print literature on radical topics like democracy.
With the advent of new technologies like the Internet and biotechnology, we have the same old story rehashed for the 21st century. Those of us who are using open source principles to decentralize industry, information, and politics are on the front lines of this age-old battle. We are the modern day revolutionaries.
In this era of user-generated content it is becoming increasingly apparent that the public is far more critical and reflexive than it is given credit for. By utilizing this stored up power-knowledge via decentralization, there is great potential for creating positive, transformative feedback loops in society.
It is imperative that the methods of decentralization used are structured to be as incorruptible as possible, much like the model of Copyleft, with high reproductive fitness. That is the only way to ensure their success.
Digital Music Industry Challenged
Excerpted from PC World Report by Elizabeth Montalbano
At the CES this year, it's clear that consumers are making choices that are driving industry changes, and nowhere is that more evident than in the digital-music business.
Music industry and technology executives convened for the Billboard Digital Music Live conference Wednesday to talk about what those in the business need to do to meet the needs of music fans who appear to be running the show.
"2008 has to be the year we get real or the business as we know it goes away," said Fred Goldring, an entertainment attorney with Goldring Hertz & Lichtenstein LLP. He said that consumers will access music regardless of whether artists, labels, publishers and digital-music distributors approve of the means or receive money from the exchange.
Since Napster turned the music industry on its ear in 2000, the digital-music business has been rocked by dissent among artists, labels, publishers, and the breed of technology companies distributing and selling music online that emerged in Napster's wake. All of these parties want to derive revenue from their contribution to the business, but have been arguing for years about how everyone should get paid.
As this drama unfolds behind the scenes, consumers continue to find ways to bypass digital rights management (DRM) and emerging revenue models to download and share music, making it not just impossible for the music industry to make money from traditional means, but also difficult to make money at all. In the meantime, artists have embarked on their own revolution, using social-networking sites and other online means to get their music directly in the hands of fans and finding other ways to derive revenue from their work.
An example of the latter is the controversial and much-publicized move by UK rock band Radiohead to sell its new album "In Rainbows" directly to consumers without going through its record label or Apple's iTunes Store. The album first went on sale in October on Radiohead's website, allowing users to choose their price for the record; a few weeks ago, Radiohead released the record to iTunes and other retail channels.
Scenarios like this will continue to happen, both among major-label artists and independent or unsigned artists. Whether they work is not the point; it's what the industry will do to work within these models and support them rather than continue to resist that will decide how the industry will fare in the future, said Terry McBride, CEO of Nettwerk Music Group. Nettwerk is a Canadian privately owned record label and artist management company.
"The corporate side of it has to shift," he said. "The corporate people have not allowed us to do what we know we have to do. This is about consumers, about monetizing their behavior and giving them choice. For all of the people that believe in controlling the IP and how the music gets to consumers, the game is over. It was over seven or eight years ago, and soon your business will be over."
Goldring suggested the industry focus on business models built solely around the networks that allow users to download music and find ways for everyone involved to make money that way.
"We have to stop trying to keep our old business alive and figure out how to monetize the pipes music files are going through," he said.
Barney Wragg, head of digital, EMI Music Group, said that in a perfect world, scenarios like the ones McBride and Goldring propose would exist.
However, the needs of different artists vary, and there are still concerns about the integrity of their work and how they will be compensated for it as new business models emerge.
"I have artists that don't want to be involved in certain business models," he said. "I have to balance those conflicts. There are a whole bunch of artists who are worried about how they're going to get paid, and what this is going to do about their representation or their art."
Allowing their music to be distributed through ad-supported online music services is a particularly hard sell for artists who worry that having their work be associated with advertising "devalues" it, Wragg added.
Subscription-based models such as Rhapsody that don't give users ownership of their music have struggled to take off. Wragg compared music fans' view of subscription models to the early days of e-mail, when people wanted files to be stored locally and were adverse to the concept of e-mail existing only on a remote server.
That concept changed over time, as will the perception of subscriptions if they are marketed to consumers in the right way, he said.
Another factor that should boost the popularity of subscriptions in the future is the increased spending of younger fans who are naturally more comfortable with the idea of not owning their music, said Matthew DeFilippis, VP of New Media & Technology for the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), a membership organization representing the rights of artists.
"Ownership is a generational thing," he said. "Even though kids today are buying from iTunes, I don't think they care about owning a thing. As they become the new generation of homeowners and bill payers, music subscription will be moving toward a cable TV model."
Video Sites Benefit from Strike
Excerpted from MediaPost Report
Online video sites have more than doubled their traffic since the Hollywood writers' strike began at the end of October, according to Nielsen Online.
With so many popular TV programs off the air, US consumers have sought out alternatives like YouTube, whose traffic has spiked 18% in the last two months.
Newer video sites have also found success. Peer-to-peer television (P2PTV) service Crackle said its audience doubled from 1.2 million at the end of October to 2.4 million in November and December.
"That is greater growth than you would normally see in such a short period, and the strike could be a possible factor," said Nielsen analyst Alex Burmaster.
A Pew Internet and American Life Project study found that nearly half of US web users visited a video-sharing site in 2007. On any given day, 15% of web users were either uploading or downloading video.
The Pew Internet Project said the spread of broadband connections and the increased use of video on websites were factors in the huge growth in 2007. Predictably, the young have been driving that growth, as 70% of people under 30 said they use video sites.
Please click here for the full BBC News Report.
Online Video Viewers Shoot Upward
Excerpted from Media Life Report
Visits to video-sharing websites and P2PTV usage have long been on the rise, and it appears men are driving much of that traffic. They are about twice as likely as women to visit such sites, according to a report released yesterday by the Pew Internet and American Life Project.
In December about 48% of Internet users said they've visited a video-sharing site at least once to watch or post video, up from 33% in December 2006.
On a typical day, 15% of users watch or post a video, nearly double the 8% who said they did so a year ago. 20% of men said they visited a video site yesterday in the survey, compared to 11% of women. Female usage is growing at a faster clip, however, up 120% from just 5% last year, while men have increased usage by 82%.
Pew attributes the growth of video sites to an increase in broadband Internet connections, but says another factor is there are simply more videos online than there were a year ago.
Paid Downloads Thing of the Past
Excerpted from Daily Variety Report by Ben Fritz
After years in which paid downloads saw little traction, Hollywood is focused on ad-supported streaming in '08.
Top showbiz execs at CES largely agreed on that point both in a panel sponsored by Variety and as reflected in the new initiatives they unveiled on Monday, the first official day of the Vegas tech confab.
Execs overseeing digital distribution for ABC Disney TV, Fox, Warner Bros. and Paramount joined Variety Prexy-Publisher Charlie Koones for the panel. Most of the talk about 2008 focused on high-quality on-demand streaming, from Paramount's "Jackass 2.5" to Fox and NBC's Hulu to ABC's media player.
"People online want to watch for free, because they can get content for free via piracy," said Fox Digital Media Prexy Dan Fawcett. "Downloading to own and keep on a PC seems to be losing out. People like to watch on impulse."
Approach was mirrored in Sony Pictures TV's Monday morning announcement that it will start distributing its Minisode Network, which shrinks old TV shows to five minutes for the web, on Google-owned YouTube. Deal makes Sony the only major Hollywood entertainment company distributing more than short promotional clips on YouTube, as most have been bypassing it in distribution deals with other sites due to concerns over piracy.
Sony, however, will put its 21 minisode channels, including new entrants "NewsRadio" and "Married with Children," on YouTube, where it will get a cut of revenue from the netco's ads, which are overlaid on the bottom of videos.
At an hour-long showcase of its content Monday, SPT Prexy Steve Mosko noted that Sony engaged Nielsen to do an original research project on the total reach of its on-air and digital media offerings. Press event, which featured appearances by Jerry Seinfeld, Alex Trebek, Vanna White, and Tony Bennett, was the only one at CES put on by a studio.
At the Variety panel, execs said that while they now have the technology to distribute their content in a variety of ways online and via mobile, they're still trying to figure out the most effective ways to monetize it. ABC-Disney TV Digital Media EVP Albert Cheng said his network still hasn't been able to sell all of the ad inventory that its content online is generating.
"The inflow of revenue isn't tracking demand yet," he told the audience. "We haven't caught up yet."
While most of the focus was on ad-supported content, panelists all agreed that download-to-own, particularly through Apple's iTunes, is a net positive for their companies. That may become even more important next week if, as expected, Apple unveils a movie rental service via iTunes and studios including Fox and Disney start including on DVDs digital copies compatible with iPods.
While all agreed that digital media revenue won't match income from traditional distribution in the foreseeable future, they were quick to react to an audience member's question about when they would start making money from their businesses.
"There is revenue being created today," said Paramount Digital Prexy Tom Lesinski. "It's not a lot, but we're not losing money."
Roadblocks to Free & Legal Music
Excerpted from CNET News Report by Greg Sandoval
A handful of analysts are calling for the music industry to focus less on CDs, digital rights management (DRM), and subscription services, and more on giving their product away for free. Whatever gold that is still left to be mined from the music industry is supposed to be had through advertising revenue, according to some.
But exchanging songs for ad money is a frightening proposition for music executives who have depended on hawking discs for decades, and are still putting up major roadblocks for the free, ad-supported model. Couple that with less-than-stellar execution on the part of companies trying to give music away, and you have a business model still trying to get into first gear.
"The major labels must embrace an ad-supported model for downloadable music," wrote Pali Research analyst Rich Greenfield last week. "We sense they have no desire to do this."
Indeed, one of the problems is that some of the services in the free-music sector have been less than impressive. Some of the competitors have been plagued by operational troubles. Some were forced to delay launching for months; while others have suffered financial setbacks.
New York-based SpiralFrog, once the most famous player in the free-music arena, recently announced that it took another loan, this time for $2 million. And when SpiralFrog launched last September, about eight months later than originally planned, it debuted with music from only one of the top four labels.
Then there are the numerous restrictions set by the services that hinder people from easily accessing songs. How good is a free-music deal if users are prevented from downloading songs to an iPod, forced to fill out questionnaires before they're allowed to listen, or have to be a college student to get access?
Consider that none of these hurdles exist at unauthorized file-sharing sites.
While some of the bigger names, such as SpiralFrog and Ruckus Network, were touted by the media as iTunes-killers, they have yet to really confront their main competitor: P2P networks.
What the record companies really want from free-music players is for someone to come up with an attractive alternative to piracy.
The buzz going around now is that QTRAX, the world's first free and legal P2P music service, will be ready to launch sometime in the next month.
[DCINFO Editor's Note: During his P2P MEDIA SUMMIT closing keynote address, QTRAX Chairman & CEO Allan Klepfisz confirmed that the service is set to launch January 27th at MidemNet in Cannes].
The service works just like a P2P system by scanning the Gnutella file-sharing network. The difference is that QTRAX will only reveal song files that the company has permission to play. A song search will also display relevant advertising.
It should be noted that Napster and RealNetworks' Rhapsody music service allow users to listen to a limited number of songs for free but they haven't generated much buzz. Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang said in October that the company is planning a foray in ad-supported music.
"We have de-emphasized our focus around subscription music in favor of advertising-supported music," Yang said when the company reported its third-quarter results.
To thrive in the free-music realm may mean convincing record labels that free doesn't mean devaluing music. Gartner's McGuire and Frank recommend a hybrid approach: a little advertising combined with a pay-per-download offer.
"Is there a happy medium between devaluing the art form and creating a meaningful revenue stream from delivering ads?" McGuire and Frank asked in their report. "Sure, and these systems have to exist side-by-side with the direct-pay model offered by entities such as iTunes."
Behold the Broadband Value Circle
Excerpted from Business Week Report by Jonathan Sallet & Steven Weber
If you were at this year's CES in Las Vegas, you might have seen Cisco Systems, a manufacturer of networking equipment, unveil its ambitious plan for new software to integrate consumers' home networks; or chipmaker Qualcomm unveil its own prototype consumer device, a "pocketable" computer; or Comcast, a cable television provider, inaugurate a website that offers almost 3,000 hours of free television programming and the ability to program a digital video recorder (DVR) from any location.
A decade ago, we might have talked about these kinds of deals using terms such as vertical integration, where a company adds a business that specializes in a different area of the creation of a final product - say, when Time Warner bought AOL. Or we might have explained a transaction as a case of horizontal integration, where a company merges with a rival to gain scale, as when Sprint combined with Nextel.
These days, many corporate moves are being discussed in terms of a struggle between "open" and "closed" systems. On one side are such concepts as unlimited music, open software, and free video available on multiple websites. On the other are arrayed "locked" phones, proprietary software, and so-called walled gardens.
But the open/closed debate obscures a more compelling way to understand current technology and media trends. Those trends are part of the creation of what we call the Broadband Value Circle, where the individual customer, who both consumes and creates content, stands only a single step away from the plethora of businesses that contribute to the complete broadband experience. These include software developers, network operators, device manufacturers, and website owners.
This is a profound change. Think of the Euclidean distinction between a straight line and a circle. If you stand at one end of a straight line where point A is at your end, you're a little farther from point B and very far from point C, at the opposite end of the line. But if you stand in the middle of a circle, you're precisely the same distance from points A, B, C, and all others that lie on the circle.
Likewise in the Broadband Value Circle, consumers stand in the middle of the economic circle, with only one degree of separation from the various parties. It used to be that value reached consumers through a straight line, in what's known as a vertical value chain. For example, company A builds a windshield and sells it to an automobile company B, which in turn sells a finished car to the consumer, C.
That's not how it works anymore. In the era of the Broadband Value Circle, everyone can compete in everyone else's market. Your supplier today may be your competitor tomorrow, and you may find that you are simultaneously that company's supplier.
Consider the creation and distribution of short videos. A consumer uploads a home video to YouTube that, in effect, competes with NBC's own website, which in turn distributes video snippets of "The Office," all of which are religiously watched by the consumer. One person is simultaneously a creator, competitor, and consumer.
Now consider the new paradigm from the perspective of a wireless device manufacturer. A cell-phone maker - say, Nokia or Motorola - acts as the provider of devices that operate on a wireless network. But as illustrated by Apple's iPhone, a device manufacturer can also establish a direct, brand-intensive relationship with consumers, almost circumventing the network operator.
And when Nokia announced near the end of 2007 that buyers of its high-end phones will get 12 months of free, downloadable music from Universal Music Group (UMG) that can be played on either the Nokia device or a personal computer, the Finnish phone-maker moved directly against Apple as a distributor of other people's content. Again, one player takes on multiple distinct, simultaneous roles. In this case, the manufacturer is a supplier of devices, creator of brands, and distributor of content.
Finally, there's the Google strategy. Like Apple, Google wants consumers to think of the device they carry in their pocket not merely as a phone, but as a computer that communicates. By announcing plans for open software standards that will let developers anywhere create wireless network applications, Google can help make that communicating computer look and feel more like the World Wide Web. Now, if Google makes good on its stated goal to purchase wireless airwaves, the company could also get a platform for the delivery of those applications. In this instance, Google could play the role of content supplier and user, as well as the vehicle for distribution of that content.
For any company hoping to be part of the new value-creation geometry, the shift will require evaluation, experimentation, and evolution.
First, businesses need to evaluate the multiple roles they can play, making clear-eyed analyses of the impact on revenue and profit. They'll need to pay special attention to the means by which roles can be taken on simultaneously with success. So, for example, Nokia thinks in bold ways about the web. But if Motorola stays largely focused on its traditional status as a handset manufacturer, it will continue to struggle.
What's more, companies will have to experiment with the combinations that can accompany the various roles. For example, record labels and TV and film studios are putting in place multiple distribution schemes - with or without Apple's iTunes, for a fee or free with advertising, with or without copyright protection software that limits how it's played. Companies situated along the Broadband Value Circle are by no means fungible; they have separate competitive advantages and their brands appeal to differing consumer aspirations. But one of the hardest tasks, especially for a big company, is to find small ways to test new possibilities.
Evolution in thinking is critical as well. At a recent dinner of high-tech elites, we asked a simple question: Is the iPod an example of innovation?
Many said no, arguing that the digital music player doesn't represent a big technological advance. They're only half right. Innovation isn't just technology; it's also the application of ideas in the service of creating new value, and that can involve design and fashion as much as software and hardware.
For the consumer, all this creates multiple ways to participate in the creation of value in concert with companies lying at points around the circle.
That certainly includes Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube, but we may look back and think that home pages and amateur videos were the 21st century equivalent of daguerreotypes - only a glimmer of how value could be created when the consumer's interplay with content mixes with the desire of companies to experiment, evaluate, and evolve.
NETGEAR & D-Link Become BitTorrent Device Partners
Excerpted from Zeropaid.com Report
NETGEAR and D-Link have become official BitTorrent Device Partners and will embed the protocol in certified network attached storage (NAS) devices and and routers.
"We recognize the benefits BitTorrent technology brings to its large user base and are pleased to be able to add that functionality to our products," said A.J. Wang, CTO, D-Link.
"By integrating the latest BitTorrent SDK into our NAS devices and ensuring our routers are BitTorrent-certified, we provide our customers with the most highly optimized BitTorrent implementation for connected devices, and an efficient way to control and access their NAS devices via an intuitive web interface."
Established in 2007, the goal of the BitTorrent Device Partners program is to work with a wide-array of hardware, middleware, and application providers along the entire consumer electronics chain to create next-generation consumer experiences that use the BitTorrent protocol.
BitTorrent certification for routers helps consumers by minimizing the need for them to actively manage their router settings in order for them to maximize their file-sharing capabilities.
"With the BitTorrent protocol accounting for half of all global Internet traffic, it is key that NETGEAR ensure its products are optimized for BitTorrent's robust content delivery," said Vivek Pathela, VP of Product Marketing at NETGEAR.
Saddle Creek Teams With BitTorrent
Excerpted from Spinner Report by Mike Spinella
While many labels are scrambling to keep their music off of services like BitTorrent, Saddle Creek has embraced the technology.
The Omaha-based label, which to date has named its own rules and achieved consistent success in an ever-increasingly unstable industry, is offering up free tracks on the downloading service, highlighting its solid 2007 releases.
"The idea is to let people sample a record before making any purchasing decisions," Saddle Creek's Jeff Tafolla told Spinner. "If they like it, hopefully they will support the artist by buying the record."
The label is offering up tracks from label kingpin Bright Eyes, plus other roster mainstays like Two Gallants, Georgie James, the Good Life, and Art in Manila.
"We just make it legal and guilt free," Tafolla continued. "By hosting those songs on our website, we reach mostly people who are already fans of Saddle Creek. Making the sampler available through BitTorrent is a good way to reach a greater number of music fans unfamiliar with our artists. We're very proud of our 2007 releases, and want as many people as possible to hear them."
LimeWire's Upcoming Social Network
Excerpted from P2P Blog Report by Janko Roettgers
LimeWire CEO George Searle revealed a few more details about his company's upcoming social network today. Searle wrote on the LimeWire Blog that LimeSpot will be "an online community where artists can interact with fans, as well as promote and monetize their music, shows, and merchandise."
P2P Blog reported first about LimeSpot yesterday, noting that the site promises the launch of wikis, blogs, and forums.
Searle also got into a few more details about the integration of LimeSpot and the upcoming LimeWire Music Store within the LimeWire P2P client: "This year, alongside the usual LimeWire search results, we'll begin integrating links to extended content in LimeSpot, LimeWire Music Store and, eventually, across the web."
Searle previously talked about adding context-relevant links and advertising within LimeWire at a DCIA event a few months ago, and LimeWire has announced that the client will eventually feature a browser integration.
He used his blog post today to go into a few more details, comparing the addition of these links to Google's universal search and hinting at a much more social and media-rich P2P experience: "Soon, within LimeWire, you'll be able to connect with participating artists, and drill down or sideways to see photos, find tour dates, watch music videos, find lyrics, and buy music, tickets and merchandise."
Oversi Expands True Deployment
True Internet, Thailand's leading Internet service provider (ISP) and one of the fastest growing providers in Asia, is expanding its deployment of Oversi's P2P caching and content delivery platform to support the growth in P2P traffic on its network.
The expanded system will enable True to increase its bandwidth capacity and offer new services, enhancing True customers' experience. OverCache was selected for its proven scalability, reliability, and cost/performance ratio.
"This follow-on order reflects our confidence in the OverCache platform, in line with our strategy of choosing best-of-breed products we can grow with. Since installation, OverCache has enabled us to optimize our network performance, improve our customers' experience, and save on international bandwidth," said Dr. Viriya Upatising, CTO of True Internet.
"With the extended system, we plan to offer new value-added services to our customers. The integration of OverCache with deep packet inspection (DPI) equipment has proved to be the optimal solution for managing P2P traffic in the True network and facilitating the delivery of new services," added Dr. Viriya.
"Customer satisfaction is all-important and OverCache will help us to maintain our leadership position in the Thai market."
David Tolub, President of Oversi, said, "True is a key customer for Oversi in Asia-Pacific. We're very proud that a regional technology leader, such as True, has decided to expand its deployment with us. We look forward to strengthening our joint business and technological relationship further."
With its distributed grid architecture, OverCache supports unlimited amounts of content and millions of users. Providing most of the bandwidth from the cache closest to the user, the OverCache platform clears uplink congestion, accelerates P2P traffic and improves the user experience.
BBC iPlayer Builds Solid User Base
Excerpted from Last 100 Report by Daniel Langendorf
The BBC heavily promoted its iPlayer, a P2PTV catch-up service, on TV, in the press, and online during the holiday season. The effort seems to have paid off.
UK Internet traffic to the iPlayer Website increased "14-fold between the week ending December 8th and the week ending January 5th," according to Hitwise, and the service ranked as the 80th most visited website in the UK, having peaked at No. 62 on New Year's Day.
Hitwise expects that the iPlayer, with broader demographic credentials, will continue to improve against YouTube, particularly among older viewers.
It predicts that, "2008 looks set to be the year when online video truly goes mainstream in the UK."
No Excuses Now - Spike Lee on Babelgum
Excerpted from Touch Explode Report
Babelgum presents a new P2PTV Film Festival that is unlike any other film festival to date.
The festival allows for entries to be loaded onto its database where its all-star collection of judges will put your work to the test. The most unusual part of this exchange is that 20,000 euros are on the line.
Renowned film director Spike Lee explains that joining up with Babelgum gives independent filmmakers the freedom to screen their work globally: "You have no excuses now. If you have a film and you're talented and someone is not seeing it, it's your fault."
Veoh to Screen Viacom's MTVN Videos
Excerpted from Business of Cinema Report
Veoh Networks, a leading P2PTV provider and Viacom's MTV Networks (MTVN) have signed a deal that will allow Veoh viewers to find and watch programming from Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, VH-1, CMT, Logo, The N, Spike TV, AtomFilms, and GameTrailers.
"MTVN has created some of the most popular, innovative shows on television, so we are very excited to bring its programming to Veoh's highly-engaged viewers," said Veoh Networks CEO Steve Mitgang. "With the addition of MTVN's content to our broad selection of video, Veoh is now the ultimate source for both network and independent TV programming on the web."
"We are very pleased to offer our audiences the opportunity to interact with our content on a premium site like Veoh," said MTVN EVP, Digital Distribution & Business Development, Greg Clayman.
This move corroborates Veoh's strategy that aims at giving viewers access to network television as well as independent studio productions and user-generated content (UGC) - all through one easy-to-use service.
"Veoh offers a significant opportunity for publishers and advertisers alike to reach a deeply engaged and rapidly growing audience online. By partnering with Veoh, major media companies can not only make their content available to a wider audience, but also deliver additional valuable traffic to their advertising partners," added Mitgang.
Cisco Signals Challenge to Microsoft
Excerpted from Financial Times Report by Kevin Allison
Cisco Systems' plans to take on Microsoft in the burgeoning market for "unified communications" services came into sharper focus last month at the networking group's annual analyst conference in San Jose.
John Chambers, Cisco's chief executive, devoted part of his keynote address to showing how Cisco's technologies could be used to make phone calls and conduct teleconferences.
"You can see us moving from plumbing to solutions," said Mr. Chambers, as he demonstrated a mock-up of an internal company directory that could be used to find experts on a company's technology, then initiate a videoconference with a single click.
While such technology is still at an early stage, the demo marked the firmest signal yet that Cisco, which grew into the world's biggest networking company by selling the switches and routers that direct data traffic, intends to compete head-on with Microsoft. The next quarters could see fierce competition as both Cisco and Microsoft jockey for what is expected to become a multi-billion dollar market.
"There is a 12-18 month window in which both Cisco and Microsoft - and anyone else, for that matter - have to be very aggressive in establishing their early footprint in unified communications," said Inder Singh, an analyst at Lehman Brothers.
While there is widespread agreement about the importance of the unified communications market, analysts are divided over which company is best positioned to capture the lion's share.
"Both companies are starting from different places," said Mr Singh. "Cisco's advantage is that it can optimize something for the network, while whatever Microsoft develops is going to be optimized for the desktop.
"For large enterprises, it's network congestion and delivery times that become bigger issues than desktop processing time," he adds. "Bringing network applications to the end-user is going to be Cisco's strong suit."
But Microsoft's dominance of the desktop also has its advantages, argues Lee Nichols at Getronics, a company that designs and installs corporate communications systems that use both Cisco and Microsoft.
"Microsoft can offer new collaboration services as value-ads to software they already have. They can offer it as an upgrade next year," Mr. Nichols said.
Cisco, on the other hand, often has to "have a capital expenditure conversation" with a company's IT group before they agree to install a new software system, he added.
At the core of Microsoft's strategy is the Office Communications Server, a software package launched in October that is designed to offer a comprehensive suite of communications services.
"This is as significant an investment as Microsoft did in the 1980s and early 1990s with productivity software such as Microsoft Office," said Zig Serafin, General Manager of Microsoft's unified communications business. "The communications industry is transforming itself from a hardware-based, proprietary technology business to a more software-based ecosystem."
Cisco's products include WebEx, an online conferencing service that it bought in May for $3.2 billion, and the Unified Communications Manager, which allows IP telephones, faxes, and other communications devices to run over a single data network. Cisco hopes its ability to offer an "end-to-end" system - from the user-facing software to the switches and routers required to run bandwidth-intensive services such as video - will give it an advantage over Microsoft.
Regardless of which company emerges as dominant over the next 18 months, the opportunity in unified communications is large enough that both are likely to benefit as more communications technologies move online.
"This is a big opportunity but it will have an adoption curve like any other technology," said Mr. Singh. "It's going to be a 10-year process."
ISPs May Be Getting Ready to Filter
Excerpted from NY Times Report by Brad Stone
For the last 15 years, Internet service providers (ISPs) have acted - to use an old cliche - as wide-open information super-highways, letting data flow uninterrupted and unimpeded among users and the Internet.
But ISPs may be about to embrace a new metaphor: traffic cop.
At a small panel discussion about digital piracy at NBC's booth on the CES floor, representatives from NBC, Microsoft, several digital filtering companies, and the telecom giant AT&T discussed whether the time was right to start filtering for copyrighted content at the network level.
Such filtering for infringing material already occurs on sites like YouTube and Microsoft's Soapbox, and on some university networks.
Network-level filtering means your ISP - Comcast, AT&T, EarthLink, or whoever you send that monthly check to - could soon start sniffing your digital packets, looking for material that infringes on someone's copyright.
"What we are already doing to address piracy hasn't been working. There's no secret there," said James Cicconi, Senior Vice President, External & Legal Affairs for AT&T.
Mr. Cicconi said that AT&T has been talking to technology companies, and members of the MPAA and RIAA, for the last six months about carrying out digital fingerprinting techniques on the network level.
"We are very interested in a technology-based solution and we think a network-based solution is the optimal way to approach this," he said. "We recognize we are not there yet but there are a lot of promising technologies. But we are having an open discussion with a number of content companies, including NBC Universal, to try to explore various technologies that are out there."
Internet civil rights organizations oppose network-level filtering, arguing that it amounts to Big Brother monitoring of free speech, and that such filtering could block the use of material that may fall under fair-use legal provisions - uses like parody, which enrich our culture.
Rick Cotton, the General Counsel of NBC Universal, who has led the company's fights against companies like YouTube for the last three years, clearly doesn't have much tolerance for that line of thinking.
"The volume of P2P traffic online, dominated by copyrighted materials, is overwhelming. That clearly should not be an acceptable, continuing status," he said. "The question is how we collectively collaborate to address this."
I asked the panelists how they would respond to objections from their customers over network level filtering - for example, the kind of angry outcry Comcast saw last year, when it was accused of clamping down on BitTorrent traffic on its network.
"Whatever we do has to pass muster with consumers and with policy standards. There is going to be a spotlight on it," said Mr. Cicconi of AT&T.
After the session, he told me that ISPs like AT&T would have to handle such network filtering delicately, and do more than just stop an upload dead in its tracks, or send a legalistic cease-and-desist form letter to a customer. "We've got to figure out a friendly way to do it, there's no doubt about it," he said.
Not all members of the panel endorsed network filtering. Microsoft has said it does not support the idea.
W00t! W00t! W00t!
Excerpted from Huffington Post Report by Paige Donner
W00t! is a fun little word coined by gamers and now pushed into popular usage by its sheer popularity, that means, according to Merriam-Webster: "w00t" (interjection) expressing joy (it could be after a triumph, or for no reason at all); similar in use to the word "yay" Ex: "W00t! I won the contest!" Look here.
2008 already has a few things to go w00t about. For example, a couple of technology companies have honed their ability to inject relevant advertising into streaming and downloaded content from file-sharing networks.
Sounds like an oxymoron? Not when you look at what these companies, namely YuMe Networks based in Redwood City, CA and Hiro Media out of Israel, are doing. Each company has identified the basic sitch: viewers want to watch video content for free and content owners need to make money off their content.
Both companies offer ad-supported video downloads. So, even if you are getting your TV show from BitTorrent, for example, if you download the file whose content owner had availed itself of either YuMe's or Hiro Media's technology, you will get one that has embedded in-stream, unskippable, personalized, and dynamic commercials within the content. This means that content owners can profit from each viewing of the content no matter where the film, TV show, or music video, was downloaded from.
Their innovation is this: enabling content owners to regain control over the distribution of their product and generate revenues from each and every use. It works for streaming video as well and on any platform be it PC, TV, mobile, and more. The ads are dynamic and relevant to each viewer.
It's good for advertisers, too. This targeted system provides advertisers, as well as the publishers/content owners, the unprecedented ability to identify, classify, and track content to ensure brand safety, contextual relevance, controlled syndication, and consistent delivery across all digital media platforms - web, downloads, mobile, and P2PTV.
For example, if I downloaded my friend's documentary from BitTorrent, where he himself placed it, I wouldn't have to feel like a big heel, because I would know that by watching the embedded Toyota Prius commercial (I drive a Prius) and the wine commercial (I drink wine) that he would be making some profit from my viewing.
Not bad. It takes and improves on a system that we are all habituated to already. It's seamless.
Content is the new store front. That is Brand Asset Digital's slogan. This company, formed October 31st, is a merger between Beyond Media and INTENT MediaWorks.
Its premise is this: search results on file-sharing networks are a rich and largely untapped resource for advertisers. More searches are done on these file-sharing networks than on Google and other major web searches.
Brand Asset Digital has formed a strategic partnership with Brand Asset Group, which is a joint venture between Warner Music Group (WMG) and New York's Violator Management and Records, which is headed by Chris Lighty. In 2006, Forbes named Chris Lighty one of the industry's "most influential" talent managers with 50 Cent, Diddy, Missy Elliott, LL Cool J, and Busta Rhymes in his fold.
Brand Asset Digital's technology allows it to insert advertisers' promotional messages into music or video files in a way so that the advertising messages appear when the consumer searches for that content.
For example, a search for one of 50 Cent's songs might yield a page full of results that say, "Free Download provided by Glaceau Vitamin Water," a company that not only has signed up to advertise with this content but also a company that 50 Cent owned a 10% stake in prior to Coca-Cola purchasing it in 2007 for $4.1 billion.
So, back to the file-sharing bonanza. Dynamic advertising, the kind offered by YuMe and Hiro have an edge with their Google-style advertising techniques for file-sharing programs because, according to Wazap's Thom Kozik, people watch ads that are relevant to them. They watch the ads. That's key.
Today, studios and music publishing labels are flooding the file-sharing networks with fake files as a way to play defense. Ronny Golan, Co-Founder of Hiro Media says: "Imagine, instead of flooding them with fake files, flooding them with legal ones."
Legal, free downloads that earn the content owners and advertisers some bucks. Looks like 2008 might just be great!
I2Telecom Appoints Andy Cooper
I2Telecom International, a developer of its own proprietary high-quality Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) products and services, announced that Andy Cooper has joined the Company's Advisory Board. Mr. Cooper, who has extensive senior level executive, operational, and strategic experience, will advise i2Telecom on its efforts to maximize the value of the company's intellectual property (IP) through licensing agreements and the roll-out of its new telecommunications offerings.
Andy has more than twenty years of experience in venture management, venture investing, and investment banking. In the last ten years, he founded three start-up companies, the most recent one being Brand Asset Digital where he is Founder & Executive Chairman.
Brand Asset Digital is a pioneer in digital media marketing and distribution via file-trading systems and the web.
"I2Telecom's VoiceStick technology does not create security risks for users and is a superior solution for the secure communications needs of government and enterprise personnel," Mr. Cooper said.
"This technology offers significant cost-saving advantages through a unique cellular bridge that enables overseas phone calls from a cell phone using the VoIP network. Additionally, i2Telecom's patent portfolio represents a valuable asset, covering a large industry that is just beginning to mature."
Paul Arena, CEO of i2Telecom, said, "We are excited about the experience and contacts that Andy brings to our Advisory Board. His proven track record of launching successful businesses in the Internet, telecom, and technology areas is impressive and he is a great addition to our team."
Comcast Welcomes FCC Inquiry
Excerpted from Computer World Report by Grant Gross
Cable-modem service provider Comcast said Wednesday that it would welcome a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) investigation into its broadband traffic management practices.
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, speaking at the International CES in Las Vegas on Tuesday, said the commission would investigate complaints that Comcast was blocking some P2P traffic. An Associated Press investigation published in October found that Comcast was slowing traffic connected through the popular BitTorrent file-sharing program (see FAQ: Comcast vs. BitTorrent).
A Comcast spokeswoman said Wednesday that the company had not yet received information requests from the FCC. Comcast, in a statement, also defended its practice of sometimes slowing P2P traffic during peak traffic times.
"We look forward to responding to any FCC inquiries regarding our broadband network management," David Cohen, Comcast's EVP, said. "We believe our practices are in accordance with the FCC's policy statement on the Internet, where the commission clearly recognized that reasonable network management is necessary for the good of all customers."
Comcast will work with the FCC to better inform customers about broadband network management, the statement said. "Comcast does not, has not, and will not block any websites or online applications, including P2P services," Cohen said.
Public Knowledge and Free Press, both of which are critical of provider traffic blocking, praised Martin's CES statements. Public Knowledge said in a statement that it is pleased that the FCC is "willing to stand by their principles to protect American consumers."
Does Piracy Presage Innovation
Excerpted from Wired News Report by Scott Gilbertson
Not convinced by our earlier post about licensing your content in the public domain as Tantek Celik advocates? Then consider The Pirate's Dilemma, a new book that argues we need to re-think our entire approach to copyright, content, and ownership.
Matt Mason, author of "The Pirate's Dilemma," has a short article at TorrentFreak, which highlights some of the book's core ideas, including the notion that piracy is often a precursor to innovation - a kind of twist on the old idea that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
Regardless of whether you're in line with our earlier piece suggesting that we might all be better off if no one owned content or you're a die-hard supporter of copyright in all its current forms, Mason's article is a thought provoking read. Here's one excerpt worth noting:
"We live in a world where it is legal for a company to patent pigs, or any other living thing except for a full-birth human being, but copying a CD you bought onto your hard drive is considered an infringement of someone else's rights. A place where an average law abiding citizen could owe more than $12 million dollars in fines if they were sued every time they accidentally violated copyright law in a single day. A society where it's OK for each of us to be hit with 5,000 advertising messages every 24 hours, usually without our permission, but creating a piece of art and placing it in public yourself without permission can land you in prison. This isn't just about the pros-and-cons of file sharing - this is about an entire species losing its sense of perspective, failing to understand the potential of one of its most precious and yet most abundant resources."
It certainly sounds like an interesting book and somehow it seems only fitting to download it via your favorite BitTorrent site.
Legalize File Sharing Say Swedish MPs
Excerpted from Slashdot Report
In the past week, the file-sharing debate has exploded in Sweden, with numerous mainstream politicians finally having understood the issue.
Last week, seven Swedish MPs wrote a prominent opinion piece saying that fully legalized file sharing is not just the best solution, it's the only solution. Now their number has increased to 13, and the issue continues to grow.
Good summaries are posted at TorrentFreak and P2P Consortium. The original opinion piece can be accessed in English here.
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.
|
