With the impending Supreme Court decision in MGM v Grokster expected tomorrow morning or Monday morning, we caught up with Michael Weiss, CEO StreamCast Networks, Inc., developers and distributors of Morpheus. We also interviewed Michael a few months back, he was kind enough to bring us up to speed on the court case and the impending release of Morpheus 5. Chris Hedgecock interviewed Michael this afternoon via email.
CH: When can I download Morpheus 5 final version?
MW: We have made a decision not to call the product "FINAL" until we are damn sure it works 100% the way it was designed to work. However we believe Morpheus 5 Beta works light years better than any other version Morpheus to date. We're still working on a few minor known issues and fixes which is why the public beta out there now. The "final" version should be released as early as a few weeks based upon user feedback.
Get the Morpheus 5 Beta
In a few sentences, why should I use Morpehus 5 vs. my favorite p2p app (LimeWire, Shareaza, Bearshare, Kazaa lite, etc)?
It works better than the others. It's a very simple answer, but we've waited a few years to be able to make this statement and today we can. Morpheus 5, even in Beta, won't disappoint.
Morpheus used to bundle adware with some of its prior installations, and since then rumors have swirled that Morpehus contains ad/spyware. For the record: Is there ANY third party software bundled with Morpheus?
We have removed all 3rd party software bundles from Morpheus 5.0 Beta. We've kept a banner ad or two (but absolutely no adware bundled software). We hope to keep Morpheus bundle and adware-free. Users should also understand that Morpheus does not have auto-updating capabilities so you never have to worry that we will send you something you don't want or you don't know about.
Please tell us what you can about Morpheus' business model. Are you planning on making all your revenue off of a few banner ads? It sounds like bundled software is something you are willing to fall back on, are you also planning a "pro" version with no ads like some other file sharing companies do? We know all companies are designed with the idea of making money, but it doesnt seem like a company of StreamCast's size (and the size of her legal bills) could survive let alone profit on your current banner placement.
Our strategy is search monetization—think of it as google-izing P2P. However instead of links, you will get downloads. Some downloads could be free – ad supported or promotional – and some could be paid offers. Very non intrusive. Now you may ask why would someone pay for something if you could get it free. The answer is what additional value can you get by making a purchase. What would entice you to do so? Support an artist that you like? The ability to purchase a great seat to a concert days before the general public? Additional content by that artist? We don’t have those answers but we can provide a great distribution channel to content providers and a mechanism to get artists paid and a way for buyers to meet sellers. That’s our focus. BTW, we are not holding our breath waiting for the major labels or Hollywood to come knocking on our door—we can do this with the 98% of artists that don’t have a major record label deal. As far as bundles, we don’t believe that all bundles are bad. However, there are plenty of bundles that do have bad behavior. We won’t ever force any of those down our users’ throats – never ever again! And yes, Morpheus Ultra is ad-free and only $19.95. You will soon see more features and functions in the Ultra product that we hope will make it worth the purchase.
What is the future of NEONet? Early feedback on the new protocol has been good, any plans to expand that network?
We expect NEOnet to grow bigger than FastTrack did in its prime. We expect other file-sharing clients besides Morpheus to use NEOnet. In a short time, NEOnet is already proving its reliability and speed in comparison with the other networks-so much so that we dropped support for eDonkey and FastTrack. We have integrated decentralized BitTorrent searches in Morpheus and also connect to Gnutella-a network that we do not plan on abandoning even as NEOnet continues to grow. However, we fear that the open source nature of Gnutella will leave it open to attacks from companies that are attempting to flood it with phony files, so we will watch that situation closely to avoid pollution of NEOnet. Also, the NEOnet protocol is the engine for other distributed communications applications-but you'll hear more about that in a few months.
So if I am a P2P developer, how do I integrate NEOnet into my application? Do you have a published open API or are you selling licenses a la FastTrack?
Right now we are taking it one by one. First we need to prove out the technology and getting it working at 100% before we provide it to others. We don’t yet have that business model in place.
Speaking of phony search results on Gnutella, a former LimeWire employee has recently announced Gnutelligence, a program that injects sponsored listings into Gnutella results. What are your thoughts on this ad model and does this affect your plans for supporting Gnutella into the future?
As discussed above, we too are moving to a search monetization model. But we differ substantially from Gnutelligence and not doing what they have announced. We decided early on we were not going to insert HTML link ads in with the P2P results as it would piss people off and degrade the primary goal of file shares - to search for and download stuff. We're focusing on media in the P2P results, which is what the user expects. We also have a MORE STUFF search which we hope people will discover. That’s where we earn revenue on HTML links—but the user goes there only if they want.
People are going crazy waiting for a decision from the Supreme Court on MGM v Grokster. Any insider's info on where this one might go and when we might expect a decision?
The decision will come either on June 23, June 27 or June 30 at 10:00 am EDT. We are 4-0 when it comes to Federal judges ruling in our favor so we hope to keep the streak going. It is comforting to know that the plaintiffs are publicly talking about contingencies if they lose and we win.
Dan Glickman did not hesitate to speculate on the outcome of this case, and had this to say: "I'm optimistic that this is going to turn out well for us, but if it doesn't then we have a whole host of other strategies to protect our interests," Dan Glickman, president of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). What do you think the MPAA's "whole host of other strategies" consists of? Surely not giving you guys a license to distribute their catalogs? :-)
Unlike others, we are not looking for a license to distribute their catalog. That's the game for iTunes, Rhapsody, Napster, Yahoo, AOL and others. It seems apparent that the MPAA/RIAA strategies include more consumer lawsuits (the biggest corporate blunder since Enron), technology solutions such as increased spoofing, and congressional lobbying to change the laws so that they can attempt to sue software developers and distributors like StreamCast and other file-sharing companies all over again-only this time under a different set of rules-their rules. Frankly, this is all nonsense and will never solve their problem.
What do you think would solve their problem? Is it as simple as altering their stance to allow a certain amount of what they call "piracy" and we call "fair use"?
The first step is for them to start talking with us. Our door is open to help explore business solutions that put the customer first. If we can score a victory for the consumer, then everyone wins. Right now they have it back-asswards.
What can you tell us of your plans if the Court decides in favor of Streamcast and Grokster?
After we uncork a few bottles of beer and champagne, we will continue to add more and more features and functionality to Morpheus 5-until we regain our #1 position-whether it takes one month or one year. We expect a positive ruling to give Morpheus a much broader range of opportunities to work with companies and artists who have been afraid to do so because of the entertainment industry's blacklist campaign against us - a tactic we urge Congress to look into with serious pursuit.
In your answer above you stated that you "are not looking for a license to distribute their catalog," but here you say you expect a positive ruling to "give Morpheus a much broader range of opportunities to work with companies and artists." Can you elaborate a bit on "working with companies and artists"? Are you planning on offering Morpheus as a new distribution channel or promotional outlet?
The entire legal battle is over just this. The entrenched entertainment conglomerates understand the powerful distribution channel that P2P software and networks like Morpheus has become. They are used to controlling the distribution channel. That is why they are moving heaven and earth to get rid of us—so they can step in. They expected a company our size to just roll-over like others before us. Instead we chose to stand our ground –right here in California – and fight for what we believe to be right. At the end of the day we expect that our distribution channel will be embraced. Yes, we don’t want to play the licensing game—but we can fill the role of distribution channel for the content providers or artists directly. We can fill the role of connecting buyer with seller. This does not make Morpheus a sell-out to big business, it makes Morpheus an empowerment tool that levels the playing field for artists and content providers big and small.
What is your fallback strategy if the Court rules against you? Can you appeal a Supreme Court decision?
The Supreme Court decision can not be appealed-so if we lose then perhaps the RIAA will want to enlist me in their anti P2P propaganda machine, just as they have with other P2P pioneers sued out of existence. Maybe they'll have me work the Kindergarten Circuit teaching elementary school kids across America the evils of file-sharing. Seriously, when we launched Morpheus in 2001, we did so we because we felt it was the right thing to do-both morally and legally. We never ran away to an off shore island to hide-we stood our ground here in the U.S. and fought a tough and expensive battle not to let pop music forces or Hollywood control the technological future of our country.
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