Market models for P2P content distribution

The new p2p networking paradigms offer new possibilities for content distribution over the Internet. We propose a model that treats peers as independent economic agents buying and selling content and investigate the basic economic properties of such a market managed p2p content distribution network. Initially, we assume that no peer has the content, and there is a substantial initial cost to bring it within the peer group. The bargaining position and hence the price that can be posted by an agent having the content depends on the cost to transport the content to the requesting peer, its value, and the number of other agents providing the same content. We discuss the influence of parameters such as the maximum number of the competitive offers allowed by the system, content popularity, its value to the agents, and the transport costs, taking into account, the risk of the first agent incurring the initial content cost.