Critical Assumptions in Superdistribution Based Business Models Empirical Evidence from the User Perspective

Abstract

Superdistribution is not new to the content industries. Quite a few suppliers of digital content have started to implement this concept already. Be it to share bandwidth and storage as it is mainly the case for movies or to spread content faster by stimulating the user to engage in direct marketing actions to promote content as it is true for the music industry. Still, (illegal) peer-to-peer file sharing is by far more popular than the manifold legal offers. We created a prototype equipped with superdistribution and domain sharing implementations as well as a revenue sharing incentive scheme. Applying the triangulation method we tested and evaluated these concepts. Results indicate that superdistribution by itself is not likely the remedy for legal content dissemination. Farther revenue sharing does not work well as an incentive within social networks consisting of close friends.