Trade group proposes new P2P music model

The Distributed Computing Industry Association (DCIA) proposed on Thursday a possible business model for distributing content through music-swapping systems. The idea is the third of three planned models that the group hopes to use as starting points for bringing record labels, Internet service providers and file-swapping companies into an alliance behind peer-to-peer technology. The DCIA is backed by Kazaa parent Sharman Networks, and its close ally Altnet.

Under the new model, labels would release music wrapped in digital rights management into peer-to-peer networks, so that people could download authorized versions of songs instead of pirated copies. Heavy downloaders would be given incentives to distribute these authorized versions instead of unprotected MP3s.