Taking Advantage of Super Distribution

Typically, packaged files are distributed to consumers from a retail Web site. However, you can take advantage of super distribution, which is a process by which consumers help increase the distribution and sales of packaged files by sharing them with other consumers. This topic describes three scenarios in which you can take advantage of this process.

Scenario 1: The content owner adds a Retailer ID to content headers

The content owner wants to control how the content header of a packaged file is modified. The content owner encodes and packages files in-house or uses a service provider. Before sending the files to a retailer, the content owner adds a Retailer ID attribute to the content header, such as:

WMRMHeader.Attribute("Retailer") = "Brand-X"

The Retailer ID value is unique to each retailer. The content owner then provides the list of Retailer ID values to the license clearing house (the organization responsible for issuing licenses). Using this list, the license clearing house can determine which retailer is responsible for selling each file.

For example, when the retailer sells a song to a consumer, the license clearing house issues the license to the consumer. If the consumer shares the song with a friend and the friend tries to play the song, she will be directed to the license clearing house to acquire her own license. When the license clearing house checks the Retailer ID, it determines who the retailer is, and can then either handle the transaction for the retailer or can redirect the consumer to the retailer's Web site to complete the transaction.

The advantages to this scenario are:

• The content owner maintains control over the entire packaging process.
• The retailer does not need to run Windows Media Rights Manager.
• The original retailer is the preferred vendor for super distribution of packaged digital media files and gets credit for resulting sales.

The following figure illustrates the process described in this scenario. An explanation of each numbered step is provided below the figure.

1. The Content Owner packages files with the retailers' unique IDs and sends these files to the retailers.
2. Consumer A purchases a song and downloads it from Retailer B.
3. Consumer A gets a predelivered license for the song.
4. Consumer A shares the song with Consumer B.
5. Consumer B plays the song, and the license request includes the Retailer ID.
6. The License Clearing House directs Consumer B back to Retailer B to purchase the song. Retailer B collects payment, and then redirects Consumer B back to the License Clearing House. A license is then issued to Consumer B, who plays the song.

Scenario 2: The retailer adds their own Retailer ID to content headers

The content owner sends the packaged file to the retailer, and the retailer modifies the content header information by adding a retailer ID attribute with its unique ID value. The retailer must use the Windows Media Rights Manager SDK to modify the content header. The retailer also creates a public/private key pair for signing the content header, and then shares the public key and retailer ID with the license clearing house. Because only the content owner and the license clearing house have the license key seed (a secret value used for the encryption process), the retailer can modify the content header but not the entire file.

As in Scenario 1, if a packaged file is shared, resulting sales are credited to the correct retailer.

The advantages to this scenario are:

• Less work for the content owner because there is no need to make or store multiple copies of the files with different retailer IDs.
• The original retailer is the preferred vendor for super distribution of packaged digital media files and gets credit for resulting sales.

The following figure illustrates the process described in this scenario. An explanation of each numbered step is provided below the figure.

1. The Content Owner packages files and sends them to the retailers.
2. The retailers modify the content headers by adding their unique retailer ID value. Consumer A purchases a song and downloads it from Retailer B.
3. Consumer A gets a predelivered license for the song.
4. Consumer A shares the song with Consumer B.
5. Consumer B plays the song, and the license request includes the retailer ID.
6. The License Clearing House directs Consumer B back to Retailer B to purchase the song. Retailer B collects payment, and then redirects the consumer to the License Clearing House. A license is then issued to Consumer B, who plays the song.

Scenario 3: The content owner changes the content header dynamically

After the retailer has completed the transaction with the consumer, the consumer is redirected to the content owner's Web site to download the file (the consumer is not aware of this process). The content owner adds the appropriate retailer ID attribute and value to the content header dynamically, and the consumer downloads this copy of the packaged file. Then, the consumer acquires a license.

As in Scenario 1, if a packaged file is shared with other consumers, resulting sales are credited to the correct retailer.

The advantages to this scenario are:

• Less disk space is used because only one copy of the packaged file exists.
• The content owner maintains control over the entire packaging process.
• The retailer does not need to use the Windows Media Rights Manager SDK.
• The original retailer is the preferred vendor for the super distribution of digital media files and gets credit for resulting sales.

The following figure illustrates the process described in this scenario. An explanation of each numbered step is provided below the figure.

1. The Content Owner packages files.
2. Consumer A purchases a song from Retailer B.
3. Retailer B directs the consumer to the Content Owner.
4. The Content Owner repackages the file with Retailer B's ID and any other pertinent information. Consumer A downloads the file.
5. Consumer A gets a predelivered license for the song.
6. Consumer A shares the song with Consumer B.
7. Consumer B plays the song, and the license request includes the retailer ID.
8. The License Clearing House directs Consumer B back to Retailer B to purchase the song. Retailer B collects payment, and then redirects the consumer to the License Clearing House. A license is then issued to Consumer B, who plays the song.

See Also

• Implementing Different Business Models
• Modifying the Content Header Dynamically