The business strategies of Kazaa Group.pptx

Describes the success, challenges and failure of Kazaa company in 2000s

1. The Rise and Fall of Kazaa A Comprehensive Analysis Based on Ebbe Munk (2006), Aarhus School of Business

2. Background of Kazaa - Founded: 2000 by Janus Friis and Niklas Zennström - Origin: Post-Napster innovation - Goal: Free P2P file sharing without central servers - Key Tech: FastTrack (Estonian Bluemoon team)

3. The Peer-to-Peer Revolution - Problem: Centralized servers easy legal targets - Solution: Decentralized P2P network - Supernodes managed traffic - Impact: Popular files became more accessible

4. Business Model and Strategy - No marketing: Viral adoption - Uploaded to Download.com - Revenue via ads, licensing, bundles (Bullguard, Altnet) - Philosophy: 'Make it free, make it viral, monetize later'

5. Growth and Popularity - 2001: 3.5M users; most downloaded program - 970M files shared - Appeal: Easy, fast, all-in-one media sharing

6. Legal and Ethical Challenges - Opponents: RIAA, MPAA - Issue: Copyright infringement - Defense: Tech platform, not piracy - Courts: Ruled Kazaa legal; users responsible

7. Corporate Maneuvers - 2002: Sold to Sharman Networks (Vanuatu) - FastTrack moved to Joltid (British Virgin Islands) - Goal: Avoid liability and taxation

8. The Decline of Kazaa - Competition: BitTorrent, eDonkey - Spyware damage - 2005: Australian court bans songs - Market share drop from 60% to <10%

9. Spin-offs and Innovations - Bullguard Antivirus: P2P updates - Altnet: Legal content network - BigChampagne: P2P analytics for music industry

10. Entrepreneurial Analysis - Schumpeterian: Creative destruction - Strengths: Visionary, viral growth, disruption - Weaknesses: Legal risks, unclear revenue, ethics

11. Legacy of Kazaa - Pioneered decentralization - Proved viral marketing - Challenged copyright norms - Inspired Skype, Spotify, P2P future

12. Key Lessons Learned 1. Disruption invites resistance 2. Free drives growth, not profit 3. Decentralization = empowerment + risk 4. Ethics matter in digital innovation

13. Conclusion Kazaa was a short-lived revolution that reshaped global media sharing and paved the way for Skype, Spotify, and cloud tech. 'They created their own market by giving customers the basic service for free and waiting for the network to grow.' – Ebbe Munk (2006)

14. References Munk, E. (2006). Aarhus School of Business CNET News, Computerworld, Berlingske Tidende, Politiken (2000–2005) Wikipedia: Kazaa, FastTrack, Altnet