[LINK] Record Labels Turn Piracy Into a Marketing Opportunity

[Deus Ex Machina]

Record Labels Turn Piracy 
Into a Marketing Opportunity
http://online.wsj.com/public/article_print/SB116113611429796022-_5EZVscJYWWFqv1AmPvXCiOjJms_20071018.html

"But now there's a growing recognition among some record executives and
performers that the people who are downloading illegally are frequently
huge music fans and that marketing to them may be more desirable in the
long run than suing or otherwise harassing them.

Hence the alliance between Jay-Z and Coke. By inserting promotional
material into the decoy files, and then planting those files prominently
on file-sharing sites, record labels and other marketers can turn what
is now an antipiracy tool into an advertising medium. "The concept here
is making the peer-to-peer networks work for us," says Jay-Z's attorney,
Michael Guido. "While peer-to-peer users are stealing the intellectual
property, they are also the active music audience," and "this technology
allows us to market back to them.""