Activity on Song - Swapping Networks Steady
By Reuters.

Activity on file-sharing networks has not missed a beat this week despite the record industry's high-profile lawsuits against individual song-swappers, industry trackers and executives said on Thursday.

"There's no mass exodus, that's safe to say. Ironically, usage this week and this month is up," said Eric Garland, a spokesman for BigChampagne, a research firm that tracks peer-to-peer networks that enable file-swapping between different computers.

"We've been looking at dramatic increases on the FastTrack Network. The number of people using these file sharing services in the first 10 days of September is up more than 20 percent from the August average," he said...

Greg Bildson, chief technology officer for LimeWire, said traffic on the Gnutella network, the underlying network that LimeWire, BearShare, Morpheus tap into, has not been affected.

Peer-to-peer officials said people would likely improve ways to conceal their identities to avoid lawsuits.

"If you're smart, and most file-sharers are, you can insulate yourself," said Wayne Rosso, president of Grokster, which is involved in a suit of its own against the industry.

Rosso said the lawsuits only wasted money, alienated music fans and will have less of a shock value in the future.

"The next time, the suits won't get this kind of media coverage. They're a desperate and dying industry," he said.

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/arts/entertainment-media-riaa.html?pagewanted=print&position=
September 11, 2003
Filed at 8:34 p.m. ET
Activity on Song - Swapping Networks Steady
By REUTERS

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Activity on file-sharing networks has not missed a beat this week despite the record industry's high-profile lawsuits against individual song-swappers, industry trackers and executives said on Thursday.

``There's no mass exodus, that's safe to say. Ironically, usage this week and this month is up,'' said Eric Garland, a spokesman for BigChampagne, a research firm that tracks peer-to-peer networks that enable file-swapping between different computers.

``We've been looking at dramatic increases on the FastTrack Network. The number of people using these file sharing services in the first 10 days of September is up more than 20 percent from the August average,'' he said.

FastTrack is the network used by the popular Kazaa and Grokster peer-to-peer networks. The average amount of simultaneous users on more popular services topped 4 million this week, versus 3.3 million in August, he said.

The Recording Industry Association of America filed suit against 261 people on Monday for allegedly pirating songs online and plans to file many more to curb activity on the networks, which it blames for a drop in CD sales.

``On the face of it, this is the opposite of what the RIAA intended,'' Garland said.

The RIAA shrugged aside the data. ``We don't put much stock into many of these estimates. Clearly our enforcement efforts have stimulated conversation among parents, children and many others about the illegality of distributing copyrighted music online and its consequences,'' said an RIAA spokesman.

``The objective here is to create an environment where legitimate online services can grow and thrive,'' he said.

Garland said he expects some people will be scared by potential exposure and increased parental pressure.

``But what we're hearing from users is they enjoy safety in numbers,'' he said, adding, ``there's a perception that suing even a few thousand means the odds of getting sued are like the odds of getting struck by lightning,'' he said.

``If it starts to taper off in October and November, then you can clearly say something is deterring activity. But at the moment, these services are very popular with the back-to-school rush,'' he said.

Greg Bildson, chief technology officer for LimeWire, said traffic on the Gnutella network, the underlying network that LimeWire, BearShare, Morpheus tap into, has not been affected.

Peer-to-peer officials said people would likely improve ways to conceal their identities to avoid lawsuits.

``If you're smart, and most file-sharers are, you can insulate yourself,'' said Wayne Rosso, president of Grokster, which is involved in a suit of its own against the industry.

Rosso said the lawsuits only wasted money, alienated music fans and will have less of a shock value in the future.

``The next time, the suits won't get this kind of media coverage. They're a desperate and dying industry,'' he said.

The RIAA released a survey this week showing a slim majority supported its move to target individuals. The survey of just over 800 people was completed on Sept. 6, two days before the suits were filed but after the industry announced its intentions in June.

Some industry watchers argue music companies would get better results by spending money on more heavily promoting legal alternatives such as Apple Computer Inc's Itunes and RealNetworks Inc's Rhapsody service and others.

``The suits are a step in the right direction, but there's still a lot of problems like the fact that more and more people are burning and sharing CDs with friends,'' said Lee Black, analyst with Jupiter Research.