The next top model: The race is on to monetise copyright online

01 April 2010

With companies struggling to adapt from traditional to digital models of generating revenue from copyrighted content, a number of businesses have lessons to offer content owners. Eileen McDermott reports

It's the IP challenge of the 21st century: how to reconcile the benefits of the internet's nearly infinite reach with the pitfalls of such a user-friendly scenario. The US music industry spent years attempting to solve this problem the all-American way – through targeted lawsuits of illegal peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharers, mostly university students. After receiving copious bad press and making almost no dent in the problem, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) gave up its mission in late 2008. Now, like all content owners, the industry has largely laid down its sword in favour of searching for ways to cash in on the digital revolution. For example, all of the major US record labels are discussing a new plan called Choruss that is being tested in six US universities. Choruss makes as much music as possible available to students via one blanket fee negotiated with the campuses....

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