The Australian company has been scrambling for months to find a way to convince record companies and movie studios that it is sincerely interested in becoming a legitimate, licensed distributor of mainstream entertainment content. It hasn't yet been successful -- Sharman and Kazaa, its file-swapping software, are still the target of lawsuits from the entertainment companies. Sharman hasn't struck any large-scale distribution deals with major studios or record labels.
According to a brief statement previewing the campaign, the print ads will be a "call to action to peer to peer (software) users to communicate the message that, given the chance, users will pay a fair price for movies, music and games from P2P networks."
The ads are also intended to tell traditional entertainment companies that they are "missing a huge opportunity" to reach file-swapping communities, according to the statement.
For much of its two-year existence, Sharman has been pursuing two goals that many see as mutually exclusive. Its Kazaa software has created far and away the largest file-swapping community online, built in great part on the unauthorised and unregulated exchange of copyrighted works, such as music and movies.
But it also has worked increasingly closely with Altnet, a division of Brilliant Digital Entertainment, to persuade the file-swapping community to buy or download authorised versions of entertainment content such as music or video games. Ultimately, the company has claimed in lawsuits filed against the recording industry and Hollywood studios, it intended to push unauthorised sharing almost wholly off the network.
"By relegating non-(copy protected) files to a subordinate and comparatively unattractive access location... Sharman intended to promote and encourage only business appropriate file sharing and to share the net payments for (copy protected) works lawfully exchanged by users of the (Kazaa) software with Altnet," court papers filed by Sharman in September said.
Sharman and Altnet have also been working though a trade association they started, the Distributed Computing Industry Alliance, to try to create a forum where entertainment companies, Internet service providers and file-swapping companies can agree on business models that serve all three interests. To date, that group has found it difficult to attract other parties into serious discussions, however.
The Sharman print ad campaign will launch on 19 November, the company said.
Talkback
they should kazaa be
Keep Kazaa Running. The people that are already making billions are the ones complaining that they aren't getting enought money because of kazaa. It's stupid!!
i think its funny they want me to pay about 14 dollars for CD that came out about 3 years ago when i can download it off the net i just lost my job i dont have money to spend on music i am splitting bill for net with my father so we can stay conected with friends and family your telling me i have no choice but to pay outrageous prices to listen to music when back in the day music was free we are just returning to our roots why cant you
The same old tired excuses, "I can't afford to pay for it so its okay to download it" is absolute rubbish, music is not a necessity of everyday life, the people who create it attach a value to it, if you can't afford to pay that value, or don't agree with it, then make your statement and vote with your $$ by not buying it. I agree that we need a new method of paying for and obtaining our music, but excusing 'theft' by claiming you can't afford it is a poor excuse. I know downloading music isn't strictly speaking "theft" it’s a copyright violation, but rightly or wrongly its still illegal and trying to excuse it by claiming poverty is just wrong.
Who said that not having the money to buy music was ok? That fool should and probably will be punished anyway. What I don't agree with is the software that is supplied. It's fair to say that the user is at fault for downloading but without the source there can be no sin. Stop the software suppliers creating programs such as kazaa or DVD copying before it's too late.
No wait a second... isn't there some law that protects them?
who gives as hit anyway?!
"Hey come on ,kazaa now know they can make millions of dollars/ quid/yen,shekels by selling to the highest bidders, why else all the litigation,this is not just because someone took of the spyware and rehashed the programme they are in it for the cash,nothing more or less.