Musicians To Place Songs On File-Sharing Network

[Suhit Gupta]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-p2p30oct30,1,2705246.story?coll=la-headlines-technology' target='_blank'>http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-p2p30oct30,1,2705246.story?coll=la-headlines-technology</a><br /><br /></div><i>"The major record labels and movie studios are leery of putting their wares on file-sharing networks, where piracy is rampant. But another group of artists soon may find that one of the most controversial networks offers a particularly effective means of reaching a wide audience. The musicians who license their works with the help of the Creative Commons advocacy group will soon have their songs spotlighted on a new version of the Morpheus file-sharing network, which has been vilified by the mainstream entertainment industry. Streamcast Networks Inc., the Woodland Hills company behind Morpheus, has modified its file-sharing software so that users can search specifically for MP3 files bearing a Creative Commons license."</i><br /><br />It is unclear from this article as to who these musicians are but it is interesting to see some artists going directly to P2P. Apparently the new version of Morpheus, due Nov. 9, will help solve the problem of identifying and distinguishing which files can be downloaded legally from pirated ones, something that is typically hard to do.