Napster Essay Research Paper Napster s BattleNapster

Napster Essay, Research Paper

Napster s Battle

Napster has become a part of all most every individuals vocabulary. It can be argued that Napster is the same blank tapes, meaning that both can record music from the original format and be used to play later. Also, people who think that Napster should be shut down say that it is taking money away from the artist and their royalties. It is subject debated; whether or not Napster has violated the copyright laws set forth by the record companies. This is to be determined by a court of law.

When blank tapes came onto the market, the record business thought that they would be the downfall of the industry. As people look back they realize that this was incorrect, blank tapes actually helped the industry rather then hurt it. The major fight then was that blank tapes were violating copyright laws and wee wanted to be removed from the market. Now Napster is having the same problem as the blank tape industry; people believe that this Internet application is violating copyright laws in every way possible. Napster allows people to download an application connecting them to a server so that they can share music files with others on their computers.

How this is any different than the blank tape dispute is quite interesting. The basic idea of Napster is the same as a blank tape, both allow the general public to listen to their choice of music, without spending much money. Now that technology is growing at a fast pace, the industry is scared that it may lose out on some of the income. This has been proven to be false from the results from blank audiotape sales in which there was no change in income. Many people claim that they use Napster as a preview application, so that they can actually listen to the band before buying the CD. Napster also indorses bands, by providing a free tour this shows that, not everyone believes that Napster is hurting the record industry. Napster, as seen by most is something like a blank audiotape for your computer and nothing more. It does not violate copyright laws and allows people to enjoy the music before actually purchasing it.

The dirty little secrets of those trying to shut down Napster ignore that, historically, technology often rewards those who fear it and fight it most vigorously. This practice is particularly true in the entertainment area. Television was supposed to drive the movies out of business; along with the radio, audiocassette recorder and VCR s there were expectations of the entertainment industry being ruined. In the early 1980 s, Motion Picture Association President Jack Valenti, who now leads the fight against Napster, claimed the VCR was to film as the Boston strangler is to the woman alone (Macko, Lia). Unfortunately, for Valenti it was not just a bad line, it also turned out to be completely inaccurate in the long run. Though the movie industry lost its bid for laws requiring video stores to pay a royalty each time a customer rents a video cassette, the film business won the substantial financial benefits tied to the expanded sale and distribution of videos. These revenues now account for a healthy portion of the movie industries profits (Macko, Lia). Napster could bring similar rewards to the music industry. Nearly three-quarters of all Napster users say their use of the service has widened their musical horizons, encouraging them to purchase music from different artists or from different categories of music (www.insightexpress.com). An online research service according to a survey conducted in late July by Insight Express.

If a technology exists that encourages people to purchase more of something, it won t be long before that revenue will quickly fall into the industry s pockets. In fact, a cash blend might actually enable the recording industry to take more risks when hiring talent. This could spur the revitalization of what now is a creatively crippled industry riding the coattails of one-hit wonders and an endless supply of boy bands. By ignoring these basic economic and creative realities regarding Napster the recording industry is actually encouraging a revolution that might not leave the music business standing. Striking a deal with the Web Site would provide the recording industry with the opportunity to exploit Napster s staggering user base of 20 million. AOL never had the quick success as Napster has found; it took AOL nearly a decade to acquire a user base of that size (Greenfield, Karl). On the other hand, shutting down Napster will not kill the practice of sharing digitalized music, but will instead push the process underground; there are a number of alternatives poised to fill if Napster shutdown. One of the programs that shows that it may have better success then Napster in the copyright battle is Gnutella. Gnutella, for example, is a Napster-like service that eliminates the middleman, or central Web site. Users just share music they ve obtained with each other. Other programs, such as Freenet, go a step further than Gnutella, these services use encryption codes that keep the identities of users concealed (Macko, Lia). The existence and widespread use of such programs would make it difficult for record companies to figure out who is using one of these services to share music files because there is no base server.

Should people be encouraged to steal music files just because they can. Perhaps, there is a difference betwee