Stay tuned BitTorrent fans, same BitTorrent time, same BitTorrent channel

The MPAA, under the steely gaze of Dan Glickman, has gone after the latest P2P copyright nightmare, BitTorrent

For those of you that don't know about Bittorrent it is the latest scourge of honest and fair-dealing copyright holders everywhere. Bram Cohen's evil tool has wreaked untold losses on the movie and music industries and in all fairness lots of kiddies are downloading movies and music by the DVD-R ton. I don't know if the numbers really add-up to Seventeen, but stealing is wrong. And it hurts people. Not just CEO's. Real people.

But I think that the entertainment industry could really benefit from the P2P experience if it would think for a minute. Here is my five point, multi-billion dollar plan to save the music, movie and television industries from P2P by embracing P2P.

1) Recognize that on-demand is the future of entertainment and news delivery. The internet has shown unequivocally that people want immediate gratification. They will no longer wait until 8pm for must see TV. They would rather Tivo the programs and watch them at their convenience. People can't wait for their favorite song to play on the radio. They just turn on their iPod or download it from LimeWire. Now people want to see movies before they are released in their market. Many entertainment companies are experimenting but there is no focus on wholesale change of the industry.

2) Determine the best technology. There are many technologies available. Most rely on a client/server architecture. Big expensive media servers stored in some sort of central facility and client boxes attached to the network. However the problem is one of bandwidth not servers and clients. It's easy to set up a technology test that plays to strengths. It is quite another to make technology work in a less than ideal situation. The technology needs to work with what's available today in the real world. If you can make it work today, you can make money. P2P clears all of the hurdles. In particular BitTorrent is a brilliant way of optimizing the handling of media in a multi-nodular network. Rather than investing in a large physical plant and countless big iron boxes you use the existing IP based network with low cost boxes that have the BitTorrent API in firmware. Pick a standardized container for your content. MPEG 4 has very strong DRM solutions. Build a good backend for ease of finding product. Establish a lenient licensing package (think iTunes music store pricing not Movielink). Voila, you just built a new distribution system for the entertainment industry.

3) Determine the optimum revenue streams. Who makes money in an on-demand universe. The Content, Service and Equipment providers. Position your company as one and you can make money. But long term which is the best bet? Equipment providers, like Cisco, make tons of money initially. What happens after everyone is set up? The money dries up and the product becomes a commodity. Content Providers can potentially make billions of dollars. If they have a hit. How many flops do you have to produce before you have a Friends, a Star Wars or a U2. I think the key is to control the pipes themselves. You have a large infrastructure investment. But then you sit back and count the pennies roll in in perpetuity.

4) Determine the Power position. As the controller of the pipes you have the ability to control what is put into the network. As such, you dictate the terms. 'Nuff said?

5) Sit back and collect the moola. The combined entertainment industries need to create and invest in this network. Much like Ma Bell paid to wire the country for phone service or the electricity companies worked together to power the nation. They need to do this to insure the protection of their valuable media assets AND to create new markets and opportunities. An unspoken truth of such a system is that it lowers the barrier to entry for content creators. In this amazing world where an entire movie, song or television show can be created on an off-the-shelf computer there are new filmmakers, musicians and TV producers that are going to emerge. And unlike the creatives of the 20th century, they will get unprecedented opportunities for exposure.

Well, that's what I've been sitting on for many years. Anybody have Bram Cohen's phone number?

P.S. I know that BT is terrifying in it's ease of use and ability to overcome obstacles but it is nothing compared to IRC. IRC is just rotten with stuff and it's lightning fast. All the serious pirates I know don't bother with BT or any of the other P2P protocols.