nanonews

The latest development in P2P clients, the Ares download software, uses a decentralised network to protect its uses from the MPAA and other so called media watchdogs. Traditional P2P clients are hosted on one computer providing the links between the up loaders and down loaders. The problem with this has been the pressure the MPAA has been putting on the ISP companies. Effectively they have made it clear that if the ISP’s didn’t get tough on their users the MPAA would go after them instead. It’s this sort of media bully boy tactic which is leading to the eventual monitoring and censorship of the net.

Ares download software is a strike back for internet freedom and also proves how futile the MPAA’s campaign is. Essentially the network works by decentralisation of its host. If the MPAA and ISP companies target one area that area will develop more sophisticated ways of avoiding detection. The industry will never win whilst there are innovative providers like Ares download. So where does this all leave the downloader? The future of P2P downloading is decentralisation of the networks, and Ares downloads are ahead of the crowd when it comes to innovation. Perhaps in the future the MPAA will find a way to pressure even these websites, but it is difficult to see how.

Nine Inch Nails have been most famous recently for championing the cause of free music downloads, a practice that has become endemic and incredibly popular. Companies, publishers and even the musicians themselves are finally coming to the conclusion that the flow of free music downloads cannot be stopped, and that embracing the model is the only way forward. There are always new ways to make money out of industry changes like this, but it takes true innovators to spot and exploit them.

Nine Inch Nails are not the first popular mainstream band to embrace the concept of free music downloads: both Radiohead and Coldplay in the UK have managed to get on the bandwagon previously. Both have led to critically acclaimed music and, clearly, will benefit the bands financially in the future.

But are these bands true innovators or are they simple using the fuss surrounding free music downloads as free publicity? Is there even a difference? In an industry like this where publicity equals future income, any band would do well to get as much as they can. Radiohead’s Thom Yorke has been a little coy about his perception of the success of the venture, and has described it as a ‘one off’.