target marketing withP2P

September 21, 2003 5:00 AM

A legitimate use for P2P programs:tracking music downloads for target marketing. BigChampagne "is selling file sharing data to "Maverick, Atlantic, Warner Bros., Interscope, DreamWorks, Elektra, and Disney's Hollywood label." Data is mined from partial IP addresses married to postal codes, and this tied to downloads associated with the contents of the users shared folders. Data is analyzed to understand and target specific markets. Acknowledging this legitimate use would put a damper on the music industry's case against P2P, so it's mostly being done on the sly.
posted by giantkicks (6 comments total)

hmm... i don't think it's legitimate to spy on people and sell the info to desperate crooks for a huge profit! i think it's funny though.
posted by mokey at 7:26 AM on September 21, 2003

Sounds more like wishful thinking, giantkicks.

P2P has a useful purpose to me. It lets me see if an album sucks before I pay for it. Unfortunately because of the RIAA's flying monkey minions, I'm unable to listen to David Bowie's new album because all the tracks available are spoofed files hosted by the RIAA. No hear - no sale.

My possible impulse[-ish] buy will probably turn into a "Bowie has a new album out... it's probably crap...again...whatever."
posted by Blue Stone at 8:13 AM on September 21, 2003

Similar discussion from a few days ago.
posted by samuelad at 11:07 AM on September 21, 2003

Unfortunately because of the RIAA's flying monkey minions, I'm unable to listen to David Bowie's new album because all the tracks available are spoofed files hosted by the RIAA. No hear - no sale.

Blue Stone, if your true interest is in finding out if Bowie's new album is any good, and therefore worthy of purchase, why didn't you just try going to davidbowie.com where you can hear most (if not all) of the album for free?

I'm no fan of Bowie, but it seems to me like his flying monkey minions have done everything they can to let you hear the album--legally--before buying it.
posted by dobbs at 11:58 AM on September 21, 2003

Ahhh yes, it happens once in a while. I read that discussion before BigChampagne was mentioned in the comments thread, and my MeFi search found no references..

Normally I froth at the mouth over data mining but in this situation identities aren't of interest to either party. This paraciticism seems mutually advantageous to me. Through this data the industry has more ability to learn which fresher acts to flush out their offerings with; besides the Britneys, J. Los, Eminems and so on. By seeing what's being downloaded, when people aren't listening to Much Music, MTV, and pop radio, exec's have an opportunity to garner a more immediate idea of what consumers want. It could be putting the execs back on the scene, on the street so to speak, giving them the confidence to produce acts they normally wouldn't consider releasing. The advantage to the consumer seems obvious. -maybe then I'd be adding more big label acts to my music library...

I use P2P to check out the music of acts on tour before I purchase tickets and hype the night to my friends.
posted by giantkicks at 12:07 PM on September 21, 2003

I think Atari is also experimenting with Kazaa to distribute its TEmple of Elemental Evil game... sans movies nor music though.
posted by titboy at 2:31 PM on September 22, 2003