Music industry has long been in war against P2P and bittorrent sites for many years, but in an unusual turn of event, an Indie music group has sought the service of popular file-sharing site iMesh to distribute its music to a wider audience.
According to paidContent:UK report, Indie music group Merlin and P2P site iMesh has signed to distribution deal which is expected to generate economic benefits for the both parties.
In the agreement, users can download Indie music files to iMesh provided by independent producers including Beggars Group and Domino. Meanwhile, file-sharers can also access songs made by popular Indie bands such as Franz Ferdinand and Arctic Monkeys.
According to experts, being the third largest music subscription in the United States, iMesh can help Indie music producers to compete against mainstream record labels such as Warner, Sony, and Universal.
While the agreement is a proof that media producers and P2P sites can work together for its mutual benefit, the controversial trial between the world’s largest bittorrent site The Pirate Bay and record industry is becoming more controversial as whatever is the trial’s result will be, experts believe that it will have a direct impact to the Internet community.
According to an expert, bittorrent and P2P protocol have changed the way people distribute music, adding that in most cases, these provide more beneficial outcome as music producers can distribute their products without the need of middlemen.
Meanwhile, mainstream record labels believe that bittorrent and P2P sites have illegally distributed copyrighted materials which resulted to slumping sales of CDs for the past couple of years.