Headweb offers movies online for both renting and downloading. Starting up in 2006, the company was the first legal service to offer DRM-free downloads. Headweb also supports and rewards file sharing through its custom peer-to-peer technology delivering downloads. The service is platform independent and runs on Windows, Linux and Macintosh.

“Headweb should be regarded as a platform for films,” says Peter Alvarsson. “Our goal is to be available for any device that has a screen and a connection.”

Just recently, Headweb made its service available on Playstation 3 which enables gamers to use the web interface in Playstation to log on to Headweb and watch movies on TV. Taking its vision even further, Headweb also decided to give away its Application Programming Interface, enabling developers to make Headweb available on many different platforms.

“We have had people contacting us saying they want Headweb available on iPhone,” Peter Alvarsson says. “If they start watching a movie at home and then want to finish watching it on the bus, an iPhone application would make that possible.”

Social networking plays an important part in Headweb's business model. Its built in peer-to-peer technology encourages users to distribute movies and earn credits that become valid as payment in the video store. It is also possible to earn credits by writing comments, rating the movies and marketing the service using embeddable banners. Headweb's latest social media features enables users to log in through their Facebook account, which means easier log on and sharing of movie experiences.

Headweb have just recently signed an agreement with Warner Brothers which will hugely increase its movie catalog.

“We have been negotiating for a long time, and in September we finally came to an agreement,” says Peter Alvarsson.  “It means that we can offer Warner Brothers videos as on- demand streaming the same day they are launched on DVD or Blu-Ray.”

Although Warner Brothers continues to demand that DRM be included, Peter Alvarsson still thinks it is an important part of progress.

“I still think DRM free movies is the best option for users,” he says. “That’s why we promote our invisible watermarking instead, to protect the copyright. But to change the mindset of a whole industry takes time. Now we have a relationship and I think it will be much easier to come to DRM-free agreements in the future.”

Peter Alvarsson says that the film industry is far behind the music industry when it comes to using new distribution and business models, which is partly due to the fact that music is not as heavy and bandwidth consuming as film, but also due to the fact that the film industry is afraid of losing profits from the DVD market.

“The film industry has to realize that digital film distribution is part of the future and will be one of many business models available,” Peter Alvarsson says. “Instead of treating it like something that will destroy the traditional DVD market, it should be regarded as one of many opportunities for consumers to enjoy great movie experiences.” 


Hendrik Bergstén