The NYTimes reported that "At least five online file-sharing companies have started trying to
reach an accord with the music industry to convert the free trading of
copyrighted music on their networks to paid services, according to
several recording industry and file-sharing executives."
It is not like the P2P services have not tried to negotiate licenses before. Napster 1.0 and Kazaa among others have repeatedly tried to secure licenses from the majors, only to be told that they ‘will not negotiate while there are unauthorized content on the P2P sites.’
This time the hammer is hanging over the heads of these P2Ps. Any bets on:
1) whether these p2p service will survive this negotiation, or
2) whether consumers will continue to use these p2p services
are anybody’s guess.
