The Mashboxx P2P software will allow consumers to preview and purchase copyrighted music content from EMI artists from within existing P2P networks. EMI will make is US digital catalog available, and plans to add its international catalog when Mashboxx rolls out its service in additional markets in the future.
The Mashboxx software accesses existing P2P networks, allowing users to perform searches for artists, albums and tracks. Using filtering technology, Mashboxx can identify tracks that labels like EMI have authorized for trade, monetization or blocking, and returns search results accordingly.
These results are then presented to the user, who can choose to sample tracks for free, or purchase them as downloads. In order to make its music available through legitimate P2P services including Mashboxx, EMI is having its digital catalog fingerprinted by Snocap, a digital licensing and copyright management firm.
For the free sampler option, users will be able to play full-length tracks up to five times, after which only a 30-second clip can be played, unless they decide to purchase it. According to a recent NPD Digital Music Study, nearly 75% of P2P users found sampling to be important before deciding whether to purchase music.
For the paid download option, permanent, full-fidelity tracks downloaded via Mashboxx can be burned onto CD up to seven times, played on five PCs, and transferred to Windows Media-compatible portable players an unlimited number of times.
