WebProNews

EMI joins Universal and Sony in signing up for Shawn Fanning's new digital content licensing and copyright management service.

While music companies want to have access to the millions of users on peer to peer (P2P) networks, they don't want to see copyright infringement run rampant.

Snocap is one attempt to manage that risk. Labels like EMI have their works digitally fingerprinted with Snocap's technology. P2P networks would sign up with Snocap, and as songs are traded through the network, users would be charged a predetermined price for each track.

The obvious question would be this: Will P2P networks sign up with Snocap? Significant legislation with draconian punishments for unlawful file sharing would have to be enacted and enforced to reduce the appeal of freely trading songs.

And while labels are signing up for Snocap, no P2P networks like eDonkey have done so yet. Could a big business like Sony or Universal have plans for a legal P2P network in development?

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Email him here.