Life After Napster
Napster, first started by college student Shawn Fanning in 1999 that facilitated the sharing of recorded songs over the Internet, had been completely shut down by September of 2002, due to multiple charges that the website violated copyright infringement
The issues surrounding the birth and death of Napster are not new. The music industry became concerned when cassette tapes were invented, and tried to prevent the manufacture and sale of VCR's (Levy, 2000). Ultimately these new media forms worked to the benefit of music and movie industries. Eventually the Supreme Court ruled that making single copies of TV shows or movies broadcast on TV for personal use was legal. Distribution of VCR or DVD versions of movies is now a major part of the movie industry's income.
Napster, however, was not a new form of media. It was a new form of distribution, using the Internet to send music files in digital form. Napster provided the central file server. Individuals uploaded songs to Napster's file server and could download songs they didn't have (Dolinar, 2001), sort of like a giant Internet swap meet. Napster had not only the current hits of the days but obscure older recordings that could no longer be purchased easily. Napster users then often downloaded these recordings to MP3 players or used their own computers to burn CD's containing their select favorite songs. For the first time, people could have CD's that reflected their personal taste. One CD might contain songs from many different artists and original issue CD's.
Because Napster was free and enhanced people's enjoyment of music, it became immensely popular. At one point, Napster membership was doubling every six weeks (Levy, 2000), and by the time it closed, it had 60 million accounts (Stern, 2001). Most of Napster's fans believed what they were doing was legal for several reasons. Because it was free, it was not like selling bootleg copies of recordings, a practice known to be illegal for years. The users believed that sharing recordings with friends was no different than the Supreme Court ruling that allows people to make copies of performances for their personal use. What is more personal than sharing with friends?
Many groups of people were hurt financially by the free distribution of copyrighted recordings. The record companies lost sales, but in addition, the songwriters lost royalties - money they get paid each time their song is bought or performed for money (Wilborn, 2002). Songwriters make their living from these royalties, and some said that Napster was denying songwriters millions of dollars in money they were entitled to (Wilborn, 2002). Recording groups such as Metallica sued not only Napster but also colleges whose computer connections allowed their students to use Napster (Levy, 2000).
The Internet is a bigger threat to the recording and movie industries because it facilitates "piracy," or distribution of unauthorized copies of their works, in several ways. When the recording media used was records and tapes, making a copy caused some degradation of quality. Second and third generation copies suffered in quality. However, when a song is downloaded from the Internet, it goes from a digitized format to a digitized format, with no loss of quality. In addition, by using a server such as Napster and high-speed connections, many people can rapidly get high-quality copies.
Several court rulings have had a major impact and have shut Napster down. Napster argued that the recording and movie industry, which is just as threatened by Napster as the music industry is, should find a way to profit from this new technology, just as they did after the invention of the VCR. They pointed to a ruling last year that said that downloading digital music for individual…
The proliferation of Web 2.0 applications and their growth are defined more by communication patterns than adherence to taxonomies and architectures, and this is evident in the growth of social networking sites (SNS) including Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and many others. These sites, while popular from socializing standpoint, also provide an excellent point of reference regarding how powerful online collaborative platforms can be as potential learning tools, and this is one
They are also increasingly differentiated by features, such as thinness and shakeability. While Apple engaged in both stretching and filling during the growth stage in order to build the market, they now appear more concerned with warding off competitors. The success of the iPod has not only driven revenues directly, but has also had the desired effect of improving computer sales. Mac laptop sales have increased 51% in 2007
Culture and the Ipod American Culture and the IPod Apple first introduced the iPod in October 2001, beginning what many would consider an enormous revolution in the music industry. While music had been previously made available on MP3 players, the iPod became the first product that was also linked to computer software designed to help consumers both manage and purchase files. In fact, by the end of 2001, consumers had the option
Downloadable, inexpensive music gives more power to listeners they had during the CD age, in which CDs were getting increasingly expensive, and consumers felt forced to purchase them, even if they liked only a few songs on the album. Technology can be empowering. The music industry did have a point: the nature of downloadable music is not like a cassette tape or VHS, given the ease of recording and mass
Principals of Marketing Throughout history a wide variety of products have been introduced, which are having a tremendous impact on the way everyone is living their daily lives. One such example of this can be seen by looking no further than the I Pod. As this small device, began to redefine the way that everyone listens to music. Part of reason for this, is because the digital music jukebox provides a wide
This is problematic, because if left unaddressed this can hurt innovation and the ability of companies to create new technology. The reason why, is due to the fact that certain firms are using copyright laws to protect their profit margins and dominance inside the sectors. This is considered to be monopolistic, as they are hiding behind these regulations to maintain the status quo. When you compare the underlying strengths and
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now