One thing that is clear: the music industry knows how to score with litigation. Its latest is a $115 million settlement with Kazaa. Several years ago, Kazaa had a YouTube-like trajectory in traffic.
But there's more: Kazaa will take measures to guard against illegal file sharing. Yes, it's like a hard-rock band moving over to Christian music.
Actually, it's unlikely Kazaa will return to its prior glory. Now, the market is flooded with many choices, such as Apple's iTunes, as well as offerings from Yahoo, MTV, and Napster. Besides, Kazaa built its model on giving things away. Now, are people going to be interested in paying? Probably not.
Rather, they will look elsewhere -- most likely, that will be file sharers that are offshore and do not care about US Supreme Court decisions.
The co-founders of Kazaa are also the co-founders of Skype: Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis. Apparently, both are pitching in to pay for the settlement. It's really a small price to pay – in light of the fact they got $2.6 billion from eBay when they sold Skype. And, with all legal claims cleared, both can now finally visit the United State without getting served.
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