Record-industry executives and online music companies are quietly working with colleges and universities to offer legitimate sources of free or deeply discounted music to students if the schools agree to take steps to deter piracy on campus networks.
The goal is to give students a carrot to go along with the stick being waved by the Recording Industry Assn. of America, which has been attacking piracy with lawsuits. An online music service picked by a university would let students play an array of songs at little or no cost, potentially curtailing the use of hotbeds of unauthorized file-sharing such as Kazaa.
The fledgling online music services involved in the talks are eager to boost their profile among college students and see discounts as a way to attract new customers who eventually will pay full fare.
"This is a great opportunity to tap into this university base, show them the promise of digital music, show them the compelling digital offerings," said Peter D. Csathy, president and chief operating officer of San Diego-based Musicmatch Inc.
The discussions still are in an early stage, though several executives said they hoped to launch a trial run by early next year. The biggest hurdle seems to be winning over college administrators, who aren't as motivated as record companies and music services to wean students from piracy.
Many music industry executives blame the prolonged slump in CD sales on online piracy, and particularly on file-sharing networks that enable users to download music, movies and other digital media for free from one another's computers.
The most active users of those systems tend to be college students using high-speed campus computer networks.
Many universities are paying for their students' love of file sharing: Campus networks have been clogged by file-sharing traffic and network administrators have been forced to respond to a steady stream of complaints from movie and music companies about illegal downloading.
Still, when university officials were first approached about putting the online jukeboxes on their networks, they weren't convinced that it was necessary, said Peter Fader, a marketing professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and a longtime advocate of bringing legitimate services to campus at discounted rates.
"Part of it was that they weren't yet feeling the real heat," he said. "So unfortunately, it will come down to when the threats are large enough, either legal or financial. Then it will happen."
