Napster

This article is about the defunct peer-to-peer service. For the modern service operating as Napster, see Napster (pay service).

Napster

Screenshot
Developer(s)	John Fanning and Shawn Fanning
Initial release	1999
Operating system	Cross-platform
Available in	Multilingual
Type	Media player
Website	www.napster.com

Napster is an online music store and a Best Buy company. It was originally founded as a pioneering peer-to-peer file sharing Internet service that emphasized sharing audio files that were typically digitally encoded music as MP3 format files. The original company ran into legal difficulties over copyright infringement, ceased operations and was eventually acquired by Roxio and later by Best Buy.

Later companies and projects successfully followed its P2P filesharing example such as Gnutella, Freenet and many others. Others such as Grokster, Madster, the original eDonkey network and others encountered problems similar to Napster.

Origin

Napster was co-founded by Shawn Fanning, John Fanning, and Sean Parker.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]} Initially, Napster was envisioned as an independent peer-to-peer file sharing service. The service, named after Fanning's hairstyle-based nickname, operated between June 1999 and July 2001.^[9] Its technology allowed people to easily share their MP3 files with other participants. Its ease of use led to massive copyright violations of music and film media, as well as other intellectual property.^{[citation needed]} Although the original service was shut down by court order, the Napster brand survived after the company's assets were liquidated and purchased by other companies through bankruptcy proceedings.^[10]

History

Although there were already networks that facilitated the distribution of files across the Internet, such as IRC, Hotline, and USENET, Napster specialized exclusively in music in the form of MP3 files and presented a user-friendly interface. The back-end system was built by Napster's chief architect, Jordan Mendelson.^[11] The result was a robust system whose popularity generated an enormous selection of music to download – at its peak there were 25 million users and 80 million songs, but the system never once crashed.

Napster made it relatively easy for music enthusiasts to download copies of songs that were otherwise difficult to obtain, like older songs, unreleased recordings, and songs from concert bootleg recordings. Some users felt justified in downloading digital copies of recordings they had already purchased in other formats, like LP and cassette tape, before the compact disc emerged as the dominant format for music recordings.

These reasons aside, many other users simply enjoyed trading and downloading music for free. They created a username and password and were able to make their own compilation albums on recordable CDs, without paying any royalties to the artist/composer or the estate of the artist/composer. High-speed networks in college dormitories became overloaded, with as much as 61% of external network traffic consisting of MP3 file transfers.^[12] Many colleges blocked its use for this reason,^[13] even before concerns about liability for facilitating copyright violations on campus.

Macintosh version

Napster running on Macintosh OS9 (using Kaleidoscope theme utility) in March 2001.

The service and software program were initially Windows-only, but in 2000 Black Hole Media wrote a Macintosh client called Macster. Macster was later bought by Napster and designated the official Mac Napster client ("Napster for the Mac"), at which point the Macster name was discontinued.^[14] Even before the acquisition of Macster, the Macintosh community had a variety of independently-developed Napster clients. Most notably was the open source client called MacStar, released by Squirrel Software in early 2000 and Rapster, released by Overcaster Family in Brazil.^[15] The release of MacStar's source code paved the way for third-party Napster clients across all computing platforms, which gave users advertisement-free music distribution options.

Legal challenges

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Heavy metal band Metallica discovered that a demo of their song ‘I Disappear’ had been circulating across the network, even before it was released. This eventually led to the song being played on several radio stations across America and brought to Metallica’s attention that their entire back catalogue of studio material was also available. The band responded in 2000 by filing a lawsuit against Napster. A month later, rapper and producer Dr. Dre, who shared a litigator and legal firm with Metallica, filed a similar lawsuit after Napster wouldn't remove his works from their service, even after he issued a written request. Separately, both Metallica and Dr. Dre later delivered thousands of usernames to Napster who they believed were pirating their songs. One year later, Napster settled both suits, but this came after being shut down by the Ninth Circuit Court in a separate lawsuit from several major record labels (see below).

Also in 2000, Madonna, who had previously met with Napster executives to discuss a possible partnership, per Napster's then-CEO and then-head of marketing, and who was rumored to own a percentage of the company,^{[according to whom?]} became "irate" when her single "Music" leaked out on to the web and Napster prior to its commercial release, causing widespread media coverage.^[16] Verified Napster use peaked with 26.4 million users worldwide in February 2001.^[17]

In 2000, A&M Records and several other recording companies, via the RIAA, sued Napster (A&M Records, Inc. v. Napster, Inc.) for contributory and vicarious copyright infringement under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).^[18] The music industry made the following claims against Napster:

1. That its users were directly infringing the plaintiffs' copyrights.
2. That Napster was liable for contributory infringement of the plaintiffs' copyrights.
3. That Napster was liable for vicarious infringement of the plaintiffs' copyrights.

Napster lost the case in the District Court and appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Although the Ninth Circuit found that Napster was capable of commercially significant non-infringing uses, it affirmed the District Court's decision. On remand, the District Court ordered Napster to monitor the activities of its network and to block access to infringing material when notified of that material's location. Napster was unable to do this, and so shut down its service in July 2001. Napster finally declared itself bankrupt in 2002 and sold its assets. It had already been offline since the previous year owing to the effect of the court rulings.^[19]

Promotional power

Napster peaked in February 2001.

Along with the accusations that Napster was hurting the sales of the record industry, there were those who felt just the opposite, that file trading on Napster actually stimulated, rather than hurt, sales. Some evidence may have come in July 2000 when tracks from English rock band Radiohead's album Kid A found their way to Napster three months before the CD's release. Unlike Madonna, Dr. Dre or Metallica, Radiohead had never hit the top 20 in the US. Furthermore, Kid A was an experimental album without any singles, and received relatively little radio airplay. By the time of the record's release, the album was estimated to have been downloaded for free by millions of people worldwide, and in October 2000 Kid A captured the number one spot on the Billboard 200 sales chart in its debut week. According to Richard Menta of MP3 Newswire,^[20] the effect of Napster in this instance was isolated from other elements that could be credited for driving sales, and the album's unexpected success suggested that Napster was a good promotional tool for music.

One of the most successful bands to owe its success to Napster was Dispatch. Being an independent band, it had no formal promotion or radio play, yet it was able to tour to cities they had never played and sell out concerts, thanks to the spread of their music on Napster. In July 2007, the band became the first independent band to ever headline New York City's Madison Square Garden, selling it out for three consecutive nights. The band members were avid supporters of Napster, promoting it at their shows, playing a Napster show around the time of the Congressional hearings, and attending the hearings themselves. Shawn Fanning, the founder of Napster, is a known Dispatch fan.

Since 2000, many musical artists, particularly those not signed to major labels and without access to traditional mass media outlets such as radio and television, have said that Napster and successive Internet file-sharing networks have helped get their music heard, spread word of mouth, and may have improved their sales in the long term^{[citation needed]}. One such musician to publicly defend Napster as a promotional tool for independent artists was Dj xealot, who became directly involved in the 2000 A&M Records Lawsuit.^[21] Chuck D from Public Enemy also came out and publicly supported Napster.^[22] Although some underground musicians and independent labels have expressed support for Napster and the p2p model it popularized, others have criticized the unregulated and extra-legal nature of these networks, and some seek to implement models of Internet promotion in which they can control the distribution of their own music, such as providing free tracks for download or streaming from their official websites, or co-operating with pay services such as Insound, Rhapsody and Apple's iTunes Store.

Shutdown

Napster's facilitation of transfer of copyrighted material raised the ire of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which almost immediately—on December 7, 1999—filed a lawsuit against the popular service.^[23][24] The service would only get bigger as the trial, meant to shut down Napster, also gave it a great deal of publicity. Soon millions of users, many of them college students, flocked to it.

After a failed appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court, an injunction was issued on March 5, 2001 ordering Napster to prevent the trading of copyrighted music on its network.^[25] In July 2001, Napster shut down its entire network in order to comply with the injunction. On September 24, 2001, the case was partially settled. Napster agreed to pay music creators and copyright owners a $26 million settlement for past, unauthorized uses of music, as well as an advance against future licensing royalties of $10 million. In order to pay those fees, Napster attempted to convert their free service to a subscription system. Thus traffic to Napster was reduced. A prototype solution was tested in the spring of 2002: the Napster 3.0 Alpha, using the ".nap" secure file format from PlayMedia Systems^[26] and audio fingerprinting technology licensed from Relatable. Napster 3.0 was, according to many former Napster employees, ready to deploy, but it had significant trouble obtaining licenses to distribute major-label music.

On May 17, 2002, Napster announced that its assets would be acquired by German media firm Bertelsmann for $85 million. Pursuant to terms of that agreement, on June 3 Napster filed for Chapter 11 protection under United States bankruptcy laws. On September 3, 2002, an American bankruptcy judge blocked the sale to Bertelsmann and forced Napster to liquidate its assets according to Chapter 7 of the U.S. bankruptcy laws.^[27]

Current status

After a US$2.43 million takeover offer by the Private Media Group, an adult entertainment company,^[28] Napster's brand and logos were acquired at bankruptcy auction by Roxio, Inc. which used them to rebrand the Pressplay music service as Napster 2.0.

In September 2008, Napster was purchased by US electronics retailer Best Buy for US $121 million.^[29]

Media about Napster

There have been several books that document the experiences of people working at Napster, including Joseph Menn's Napster biography, All the Rave: The Rise and Fall of Shawn Fanning's Napster,^[11] John Alderman's "Sonic Boom: Napster, MP3, and the New Pioneers of Music,"^[30] and Steve Knopper's "Appetite for Self Destruction: The Spectacular Crash of the Record Industry in the Digital Age."^[31]

The 2010 film The Social Network features Napster co-founder Sean Parker (played by Justin Timberlake) in the rise of the popular website Facebook.^[32]

See also

• OpenNap
• Snocap
• TekNap
• imeem
• Kazaa

References

1. ^ Pollack, Neal. Spotify Is the Coolest Music Service You Can't Use. Wired. December 27, 2010.
2. ^ Schonfeld, Erick. Shawn Fanning And Sean Parker Talk About Airtime And “Smashing People Together”. TechCrunch. October 6, 2011.
3. ^ Rosen, Ellen. Student's Start-Up Draws Attention and $13 Million. The New York Times. May 26, 2005.
4. ^ Bradshaw, Tim. Spotify-MOG battle heats up. Financial Times. February 28, 2010.
5. ^ Emerson, Ramona. Sean Parker At Web 2.0 Summit Defends 'Creepy' Facebook. The Huffington Post. October 18, 2011.
6. ^ Simon, Dan. Internet pioneer Sean Parker: 'I'm blazing a new path'. CNN. September 27, 2011.
7. ^ Menn, Joseph (2003). All the Rave: The Rise and Fall of Shawn Fanning’s Napster. Crown Business. ISBN 0-609-61093-7. 
8. ^ Kirkpatrick, David (October 2010). "With a Little Help From His Friends". Vanity Fair. http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2010/10/sean-parker-201010?currentPage=all. Retrieved July 1, 2011. 
9. ^ Napster's High and Low Notes – Businessweek – August 14, 2000
10. ^ Evangelista, Benny (September 4, 2002). "Napster runs out of lives – judge rules against sale". San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/09/04/BU138263.DTL. Retrieved October 18, 2011. 
11. ^ ^{a b} "All the Rave: The Rise and Fall of Shawn Fanning's Napster". http://www.amazon.com/dp/0609610937. 
12. ^ Fusco, Patricia (March 13, 2000). "The Napster Nightmare". ISP-Planet. http://www.isp-planet.com/politics/napster.html. 
13. ^ Anderson, Kevin (September 26, 2000). "Napster expelled by universities". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/942090.stm. 
14. ^ Official Napster Client For Mac OS, OS X || The Mac Observer
15. ^ Eight MP3 Players For The Macintosh. Applelinks.com (October 31, 2003). Retrieved on January 29, 2011.
16. ^ Borland, John (June 1, 2000). "Unreleased Madonna Single Slips On To Net". CNET News.com. http://news.com.com/2100-1023-241341.html?legacy=cnet. 
17. ^ Jupiter Media Metrix (July 20, 2001). Global Napster Usage Plummets, But New File-Sharing Alternatives Gaining Ground. Press Release.
18. ^ 17 U.S.C. A&M Records. Inc. v. Napster. Inc. 114 F. Supp. 2d 896 (N. D. Cal. 2000).
19. ^ .A&M Records, Inc. v. Napster, Inc., 239 F.3d 1004 (9th Cir. 2001). For a summary and analysis, see Guy Douglas, Copyright and Peer-To-Peer Music File Sharing: The Napster Case and the Argument Against Legislative Reform http://www.murdoch.edu.au/elaw/issues/v11n1/douglas111.html
20. ^ Menta, Richard (October 28, 2000). "Did Napster Take Radiohead's New Album to Number 1?". MP3 Newswire. http://www.mp3newswire.net/stories/2000/radiohead.html. 
21. ^ "Case Nos. C 99-5183 and C 00-0074 MHP (ADR)". FindLaw.com. http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/napster/napster/dec_xeal.pdf. Retrieved February 12, 2009. 
22. ^ "Rapper Chuck D throws weight behind Napster". Cnet News. May 1, 2000. http://news.cnet.com/2100-1023-239917.html. 
23. ^ A&M Records, Inc. v. Napster, Inc., 114 F. Supp. 2d 896 (N.D. Cal. 2000), aff'd in part, rev'd in part, 239 F.3d 1004 (9th Cir. 2001)
24. ^ Menta, Richard (December 9, 1999). "RIAA Sues Music Startup Napster for $20 Billion". MP3 Newswire. http://www.mp3newswire.net/stories/napster.html. 
25. ^ 2001 US Dist. LEXIS 2186 (N.D. Cal. Mar. 5, 2001), aff’d, 284 F. 3d 1091 (9th Cir. 2002).
26. ^ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/07/23/napster_to_ditch_mp3/
27. ^ Evangelista, Benny (September 4, 2002). "Napster runs out of lives – judge rules against sale". San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/09/04/BU138263.DTL. 
28. ^ "Porno company offers to buy Napster". CNET News.com. September 12, 2002. http://news.com.com/2100-1023-957784.html?tag=fd_top. 
29. ^ "The Next Chapter: Best Buy To Acquire Napste121 Million". paidContent.org. http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-breaking-best-buy-to-acquire-napster-for-121-million/. 
30. ^ John Alderman (August 8, 2001). Sonic boom: Napster, MP3, and the new pioneers of music. Perseus Pub.. ISBN 9780738204055. http://books.google.com/books?id=XH_uAAAAMAAJ. Retrieved January 29, 2011. 
31. ^ Napster wounds the giant : Music. The Rocky Mountain News (January 5, 2009). Retrieved on January 29, 2011.
32. ^ Kirkpatrick, David. With a Little Help From His Friends. Vanity Fair. October 2010.

Further reading

• Carlsson, Bengt; Gustavsson, Rune (2001). "The Rise and Fall of Napster – An Evolutionary Approach". Proceedings of the 6th International Computer Science Conference on Active Media Technology 
• Giesler, Markus; Pohlmann, Mali (2003). "The Social Form of Napster: Cultivating the Paradox of Consumer Emancipation". Advances in Consumer Research 
• Giesler, Markus; Pohlmann, Mali (2003). "The Anthropology of File Sharing: Consuming Napster as a Gift". Advances in Consumer Research 
• Green, Matthew (2002). "Napster Opens Pandora’s Box: Examining How File-Sharing Services Threaten the Enforcement of Copyright on the Internet". Ohio State Law Journal 63: 799 
• InsightExpress. 2000. Napster and its Users Not violating Copyright Infringement Laws, According to a Survey of the Online Community.
• Ku, Raymond Shih Ray (2001). "The Creative Destruction of Copyright: Napster and the New Economics of Digital Technology". University of Chicago Law Review. doi:10.2139/ssrn.266964. SSRN 266964 
• McCourt, Tom; Burkart, Patrick (2003). "When Creators, Corporations and Consumers Collide: Napster and the Development of On-line Music Distribution". Media, Culture, & Society 25 (3): 333–350. doi:10.1177/0163443703025003003 
• Orbach, Barak (2008). "Indirect Free Riding on the Wheels of Commerce: Dual-Use Technologies and Copyright Liability". Emory Law Journal 57: 409–461. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=965720 
• Abramson, Bruce (2005). Digital Phoenix; Why the Information Economy Collapsed and How it Will Rise Again. MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-51196-4. 
• Judge criticises both parties in Napster case
• "The File Sharing Movement" in Jack Goldsmith and Tim Wu, Who Controls the Internet: Illusions of a Borderless World Oxford University Press, 2006, pp. 105–125. isbn: 9780195152661

External links

• Official website