Private Media Group describes itself as “a worldwide leader in premium quality adult entertainment products, services and content.” It this week offered one million shares to Napster Inc., an offer which would require approval by the court controlling Napster’s bankruptcy proceedings.
According to the company’s statement, it “plans to create a unique peer-to-peer (P2P) environment that would offer the tens of millions of adult consumers worldwide the opportunity to share adult content for free as well as access top quality adult content at a reasonable price.”
Charles Prast, President and CEO of Private Media Group said:
"Along with Hollywood and the recording industry, we have become increasingly concerned about the level of copyright infringement inherent in free peer-to-peer file swapping services. It is estimated that up to 35% of all content downloaded from P2P sites is of an adult nature, which raises significant issues both in terms of copyright infringement and lack of controls of access by minors. It is an industry that presently has over 150 million users.
"At Private, we feel that there has been an excess of spamming, credit card fraud, abuse of consumer data, and price gouging among many on-line providers of adult content. We intend to use the strength of the Napster trade mark to build a community for adults to share content provided by Private and our industry partners."
Napster’s auction memorandum anticipates the business being sold as a going concern, with the hope that a new owner can launch its fee-based services, albeit continuing the peer-to-peer model that made the brand famous. There are no guarantees of licenses from any record companies; but the memorandum does refer to Napster’s new system being ready for launch with,
"…sophisticated software that ensures proper file identification and digital certification of each copyright cleared music track to prevent the unauthorised transfer of files without proper payment via credit card."