Villa+S+Prospectus

Villa S

= If You Can't Beat Them, Join Them: Revenue Sharing with the Music Industry =

//How Record Labels can Profit from Illegal P2P File Sharing//
**__The Problem__**

It’s obvious that members of Gen-Y refuse to stop illegally downloading music. P2P networks like Limewire have taken advantage of this increasingly popular phenomenon with little regard for the lost revenues of the music industry. Illegally downloaded music files can not only be listened to as many times as the user chooses, but also burned to CD or transferred into iTunes where they can be put onto Mp3 players such as an iPod.

=__Proximity's Social Media Solution / Recommendation__= Proximity's solution is for the music industry to find a new business model that will allow them to make profits without focusing primarily on CD sales. Proximity's focus group sessions have shown that Gen-Y is a large contributor to illegal music downloading and they show no signs of stopping in the near future. My report focuses on one of the many solutions that the music industry can incorporate in order to generate profits without relying mainly on music sales. My recommendation to the music industry is for them to collaborate with P2P file sharing networks such as Limewire in order to generate profits from advertisements. Limewire CEO George Searle has offered to share up to 40% of Limewire's advertising profits with the record labels. This advertising program will also record and analyze the information gathered about the individual user. This will allow both the advertisers and the record comapanies to gather data on where and by whom their product/service is of interest.