With the ever growing media in the the world, the Internet has grown to be one of the biggest entertainment outlets, and almost the fastest growing. One of the shared technologies that the Internet provides is called MP3’s. MP3’s give fans the chance to listen to music in cd quality format on the Internet just by downloading the file. With this technology brings lots of concerns. Some of the concerns have been expressed very recent in the news with bands suing a program called Napster. What the problem is that bands proclaim this is copyright infringement and fans are stealing their music. Is it or is it an alternative method of promoting an album? There are plenty of pro’s and con’s to this very controversial music issue. Napster and other music sharing programs do not break the law with “copyright infringement.”
Napster is music sharing program which can be downloaded for free on the Internet. It is a “shareware”program that allows fans of music to share songs over the Internet. A person can simply go on Napster and they can search a music library for songs. “Napster does not, and cannot, control what content is available to you using the Napster browser. Napster users decide what content to make available to others using the Napster browser, and what content to download.”This means that hundreds to thousands of users can log on to the program and whatever songs the users have, they can download. Napster is not allowed to have songs on the site. This is in fact a violation of the copyright infringement law. Ironically, they are being sued for the very same thing. Users are responsible for what is being displayed on Napster’s program. MP3’s have become a huge problem with the music industry as of late. MP3’s are cd-quality songs that can be downloaded to your hard drive. The music industry is up in arms over this because computer users are capable of using a cd-burner to make their own cd’s and sell or distribute them, therefore creating no capital to the record labels or bands. Though, people with cd burners are far and between. Not everyone has a cd recordable burner. These people have to suffer for people who “pirate” the music. On any given day, a fan of music and the program Napster, can log on and get up to 600,000 to 800,000 different songs. People can even download entire albums. This is another controversial issue with Napster. Is this ethical? Is this breaking the law? stealing music?
Looking at the current problem in today’s news, heavy metal band Metallica is suing Napster, alongside rapper Dr Dre. for copyright infringement. Metallica states the reason behind their actions is that they are “stealing our music.” The band has asked and warned the Internet shareware provider to take their name off the list of possible bands on Napster’s music library, it’s fans share. Napster has declined to take the band’s song off, and therefore, is being sued by the band because of that. The band doesn’t want their music shared online because they consider it stealing. They are mad because the fans didn’t pay for the music and therefore, its considered stealing and copyright infringement. That means fans did not get the band’s consent to download and share their songs with thousands of users. Metallica’s drummer Lars Ulrich states:
"We look to the Internet for the future as a great way to get Metallica music to our fans, but this clearly is an illegal thing. People should know that, and if they want to steal Metallica's music, instead of hiding behind their computers in their bedrooms and dorm rooms, then just go down to Tower Records and grab them off the shelves instead, and not be pussies about it. "
Metallica’s drummer is the most outspoken person from the band and he doesn’t care about the money according to him. Perhaps he doesn't care about the money because he already has a shitload of it. He feels this is unethical and unprofessional. He thinks the program should be shut down completely, but at the same time he thinks independent bands should do whatever it takes to get their music out there? I don’t get it. Just because Metallica has been around for over 20 years and are worth millions, they want to go and get more money just because of a little artist integrity. I can see why the band is fighting this but I can also see it from Napster’s point of view.
Another outspoken member of the music community, in Chuck D of Public Enemy, feels the complete opposite. He has started an internet called Rap Station.com, which features upcoming new rap artists and allows them to download songs from the website. Chuck D thinks its just another way of marketing music. He thinks its a great way of getting music out there because it's free, and it can reach a large audience quicker. Recently, Chuck D and Lars debated over the Napster and Mp3 issue on Charlie Rose on PBS. I caught most of the conversation, which was very interesting. I can see both sides of the story. Chuck D is right but Lars is as well. Not that I agree with him, but he’s right. One thing that I liked Chuck D said was somehow the artists can get paid out of the mp3 file sharing and he is trying to start a company that is trying to bring the control back to the artists. Let's now take a look at the pro's & con's.
Continuing, let’s look first at the pro’s of Napster. Why is this program rapidly growing in popularity amongst internet fans? The program was started about 9 months ago and has been getting more and more popular. Being an avid user of Napster, music is at your fingertips. Just pick a song and artist and within the usual download time of your computer you can find just about anything. There are plenty of obscure artists on here as well. To me that is a positive thing. For example, you are in a band that plays punk rock. It’s not that easy to get signed to a major record label so you take your lobbying to the Internet. Napster is the perfect opportunity to get your music out to people and it can be the fastest and most cost effective way. Napster has hundreds of thousands of users and with a little self promotion of your band and a few select songs, this is the best way to have people hear your music. People may just check out your music because your belong to a specific genre like Punk Rock. Again, that is positive.
Another pro of Napster is it has gained tons of publicity from their recent troubles with Metallica and a previous lawsuit with the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) as well as plenty of free advertising from the news. This has created more and more people to download Napster, despite the controversy, and allowing more users to gain access to Napster’s music sharing library. MP3 digital music is a breakthrough for computer users and it was inevitable a program like Napster would come along. Controversy also came along with it, because of the suspected “illegal” songs they had on their servers.
Looking at another pro of the shareware program, Napster saves people the time from searching on the internet for MP3’s, as well as having trouble downloading them to your computer due to the slowness of that file. Napster allows users to get MP3’s directly from their hard drives by being able to open that system and getting it from each user’s computer system. This is quite different from other MP3 sites because they were already online on what is called an FTP site. This allows files to be stored on the World Wide Web. MP3’s stored on a person’s hard drive are not online. They would have to be uploaded to the Internet and FTP sites. To me this makes Napster 100 times better because it saves users the aggravation of looking at sites, which usually turn out to be disorganized and contain broken links. This means that the link of the webpage would not work.
Next, let’s take a look at the con’s of Napster. Although many people use Napster for pure musical enjoyment, there are a few out there that use the program to pirate the music and make a profit from it. They download the music and burn it and sell it to people at shows, the Internet like Ebay.com. These people are definitely wrong for doing that. As much as I like the program, I disagree with the people that take the music and profit from it. That’s not right. I am all for people downloading songs just for the fact it’s music, not for money.
Continuing, Corporate bands suffer the most from this program. Bands that are on major labels have more access than smaller bands to the music industry and record chains. Therefore, more people buy their music, but at the same time, their music is more available to people on the Internet. Record labels lose more than the bands because they pay to put the records out, as well as gain more profit than the band itself from record sales. Metallica and the RIAA, lose big because of the availability of the records, and the amount of songs that are put out, creating more music to choose from those specific artists and record companies. Small bands do much better on the Internet than bands like Metallica because they are not recognized and this helps them get exposure.
Another con to Napster is that it has a technology to open a person’s hard drive and just lift MP3’s off your system. Imagine, if they could also lift any other program, or software from your system, while you paid for it, and they did not. Is this safe? It certainly does not make it private. People can take songs directly from your hard drive without any problems. Viruses may also pop up if you download a song from Napster. This actually hasn’t happened yet from what I hear. This surprises me because viruses come out everyday, and so many people download music, a virus or two is expected in these kinds of programs. All people have to do is re-name a virus with the extension, or file name that an MP3 would have. This will definitely happen in the very near future.
Personally, Napster has allowed me to search their library for out of the print material as well as hard to find songs I have been looking for. I am sure their are people throughout the world that use this program to their advantage. Not everyone has a Tower Records or Wal-Mart in the area to go down and buy a record. Also not everyone likes the music that is in those record stores. That’s what makes Napster great. I download hundreds of songs, but at the same time I will go buy the album anyway. Why? Well, because most of the bands on Napster don’t have every song on the server, so it encourages people to go and buy the records. When I start to feel guilty about downloading songs, I just think of all the CDs, records, tapes that I have bought and I’m still buying. I have over 600 CDs, and downloading music doesn’t stop me from still buying those records. I know most bands rely on those records to make a living in life. But I help support these bands by going to their concerts, buying records, t-shirts, most of which, the money goes into their pocket.
Another thing I like about Napster is that people may experiment with bands and see if they like them. If so, it encourages them to either buy the album, or go see them live in concert. Opposers of Napster overlook that. They may download a song of a band but at the same time, they will go see them in concert and pay up to $100 dollars for a ticket. To me, that is stealing! Napster is a good thing that was spoiled by a few people who took advantage of the program. I can see what bands are complaining about but at the same time, I don’t agree with the big corporate bands because they make enough money, plenty of money. Why do they want to get more? That just shows their greed, and “artist integrity.” I hope Napster stays around for a long time because it makes most music fans happy and it makes corporate bands mad.
In recent events, Metallica handed over 60,000 pages of documents to Napster to have over 330,000 Users banned from the system. I WAS ONE OF THEM. Now, Metallica has enraged thousands of fans, because they were kicked off the system for having Metallica songs. What pisses them off even more is that they are kicked off from downloading any other song as well. This pissed me off as well. I had like 6 Metallica songs, none of which was that shit they have recorded in the last five years. Some people had ONE song on their hard drive and were kicked off.
Napster has created lots of controversy over the last few months all because of a technology that is catching on like the plague, called MP3’s. It allows fans to listen to music on the Internet in compact disc quality. It also can be transferable over to people’s cd-recordable burners, which allow people to listen to the music on a stereo, etc. Heavy Metal band, Metallica, want this program to “crash and burn.” They see this as a threat to their music because it steals their songs, and are traded for free. Personally, I think it’s fine as long as a profit is not made from the music. Napster helps people get their music out there as well as support them when bands tour. Napster is a community of music on the Internet which share each other’s MP3’s files. I see nothing wrong with this and I hope Napster can survive Metallica’s corporate on-slaught. Music is life, life is music.
PSST. I got back on Napster with a little code I found on the Napster message board before Napster removed it. If you want it, Email me and I will send over what I know. So far I was not kicked off or had any problems. If you are one of the few thousand that got kicked off, I would be more than happy to give you code, if you haven't found it already. Happy Searching!
Metallica Update: Those sneaky bastards compiled another list of 300,000+ users in secret, compared to last time when they informed the public they composed a lists of Metallica robbers. I believe this time they only want to have their songs removed from the system. Truthfully, I wouldn't download any Metallica or Dr Dre songs for a long time. Dr Dre has followed suit, [perhaps it's the same fucking lawyer] and compiled a list of 200,000 and he wants his song removed from Napster. On Charlie Rose, Chuck D said Dre has no clue what is going on. It's the lawyer telling him what is happening, and the lawyer is telling him he is losing money so Dre wants to sue. This is going to happen forever or until Napster is bought out due to them threatening the sales of records the past year. I don't know, but Napster can only help someone like boy band N*SYNC or Britney Spears to sell a million copies, so they better not give us any shit about poor record sales, when cds like those pop bands are breaking records. Rumors were that RIAA [which is all the major labels] were going offer Napster a huge sum of money so they can take over and either shut the program down or start charging for MP3's. Well, all I can say is download like crazy for free when you can because when it stops it's going to suck. Personally, I don't see MP3's disappearing. I just think its not going to be free, and that's where you can get your music from now on. CDs will be declining and then non existent just like A Tracks, Tapes, and Records. Digital Music is here to stay, so deal with it!
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