In the MIX by John
Kreicbergs
November 13, 2001
Napster is dead.
Sure, it's not official and I'm sure we haven't heard the last from
the renegade music sharing wunderkind Shawn Fanning but for all practical
purposes Napster has shriveled to a shadow of its former daunting
self with little sign of ever being able to return to its former glory.
Earlier this year, following multi-million dollar settlements with
Dr. Dre, Metallica, the RIAA, and apparently every disgruntled grandmother
of an artist illegally traded on Napster's song-swapping server, Fanning
pledged that they would prevail and would be back up and running by
late summer.
The "late summer" promise has been pushed back to early 2002 and "prevail"
now means charging a monthly subscription fee. Napster can now quietly
join the ranks of online music distribution sites ruthlessly subjugated
and carefully monitored by the Mr. Big and his Corporate Label, which
is in turn held in check by Herr Big and his German Parent Company.
Remember, beyond the funds from interested investors that kept the
company afloat Fanning hadn't really made a dime up to this point.
Built on the "execute now, business model be damned" principle of
what is now the dotcom wasteland, Napster was freely making junkies
out of every money-strapped high school and college student looking
for their regular fix of contraband Metallica and J-Lo. But now that
Fanning's jumped in the pool with BMG and a handful of other groups,
the cash out is self-evident.
The party is over; it was fun while it lasted.
In the end, most levelheaded people can agree that the online download
of tracks from Napster was stealing in the most basic sense. At the
time of the trials, most online discussion boards and chat rooms were
glutted with the half-baked rationale of many users justifying their
actions, from the "musicians-make-so-much-money-anyways" excuse to
the simple and direct "dude-I'm-broke" defense. I'll admit it: I was
guilty. Chances are, you are too.
And in the end, who really gets hurt by all of this hullabaloo? Unfortunately
it's the independent and smaller name artists struggling to get their
work out there. Radio is a corporate monster of its own and the online
free-for-all that used to be Napster was one of the few ways -- if
not the only way -- for some artists to get their work distributed
and garner some much coveted exposure for themselves. Imagine my welcome
surprise when I accidentally downloaded David Gray's "Babylon" when
scouring Napster one night for Steely Dan's "Babylon Sisters." I believe
it took me 5 days to finally track down White Ladder at a local CD
shop after asking around at so many others and getting a reaction
like I had just grown a third head. It would seem that if it wasn't
in the "New Music" section, it just didn't exist.
What was once a beautifully diverse musical sampler minus the heart-shaped
box, Napster will now be reduced to your average mall-quality "music"
store (scare quotes intentional). So it's back to combing obscure
music magazines, keeping my ear to the ground, buying lots of duds
and carefully dodging the aural assault from what the record companies
keep telling you and me is the best thing to come along since their
last best thing. Being a music snob is hard work.
And for now, so much for the wonders of the digital age. |
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