EMI Supports Mashboxx P2P Service

EMI Music has agreed to make its entire catalog of digital recordings available to Mashboxx, a legal peer-to-peer (P2P) service currently in development.

The Windows Media-only Mashboxx P2P software, or “client,” will allow consumers to preview and purchase copyrighted music content from EMI artists from within existing P2P networks.

The deal covers the company’s U.S. catalog, though EMI plans to make additional repertoire from its international catalog available when Mashboxx rolls out its service in additional markets in the future.

Mashboxx will use filtering technology to identify tracks that labels like EMI have authorized for trade through P2P networks. Users can choose to sample tracks for free, or purchase them as downloads. In order to make its music available through legitimate P2P services including Mashboxx, EMI is having its digital catalog fingerprinted by SNOCAP.

For the free, sampler option, users will be able to play full-length tracks up to five times. These sampler tracks will expire after they have been played five times. After five plays, users will be able to play only a 30-second clip of the track, unless they decide to purchase it. This try-before-you-buy feature was exclusively designed by Mashboxx for usage within P2P platforms.

According to the most recent NPD Digital Music Study, nearly 75 percent of P2P users found sampling to be important before deciding whether to purchase music.

“Legal peer-to-peer services that offer consumers a great user experience and compensate creators appropriately are good for music fans, good for artists, and good for the digital music market as a whole,” said David Munns, chairman and CEO of EMI Music North America and vice chairman of EMI Music worldwide.

-Macworld staff, Macworld.co.uk

Check out our CIO News Alerts and Tech Informer pages for more updated news coverage.