SnoCap, the digital music company set up by the original Napster founder Shawn Fanning, has signed up EMI to its P2P tracking service. That means all but Warner are now signed up to the service which will encode the major record labels’ respective catalogues in such a way that the majors could let their music travel via P2P file sharing networks while keeping track of how many times each track is shared. In theory such a system means P2P networks could go legitimate by charging a subscription to users, and passing that on to the record labels based on how many times tracks are shared.
However, the big challenge for the whole scheme, which has been generally well received in the music industry, is whether any P2P services will adopt a legitimate subscription model and, if they do, whether any P2P users would be willing to pay such a subscription. The success of the whole business model, therefore, probably depends on legislation changes that make it easier for record labels to find and prosecute copyright violators. And that means, ironies of ironies, that Fanning, the legendary creator of the world’s first major P2P network, might find himself lobbying for the essential outlawing of non-legit P2P.