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In the past year, Napster Inc. has made more than its fair share of headlines in the news. This is not just a result of it becoming another web site that allows online users to chat with one another-but because of the fact that it allows its members to search each other's computers and exchange music stored in the very popular MP3 format. This ability to swap and copy music at an unmonitored rate is what is causing numerous record companies and music artists to become extremely upset with Napster.
Most notably, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), rapper Dr. Dre and heavy metal band Metallica have all expressed their views and sued Napster for copyright infringement. They claim that allowing users to exchange their music at this unmonitored rate is equivalent to theft.
The underlying reason why the RIAA, Dr. Dre and Metallica are suing Napster is because they are losing income. They claim that every time someone illegally makes a copy of their music and distributes it to someone else, the artists and their copyright association are being deprived of their income. This means that technically, anyone getting or distributing music over the Internet is breaking the law. This is also what makes the lawsuit against Napster pretty tricky. Napster is not buying or selling music over the Internet--it's just the "middle man" that allows users to search for music.
But isn't this the same thing as going over to a friend's house and making copies for yourself from his or her own personal collection?
A lot of people, including rapper Chuck D and Napster Inc. itself, feel that this is very true, although the RIAA, Dr. Dre and Metallica feel that Napster is violating copyright infringement laws. Napster argues that it only provides a conduit for music and believes that it has done nothing illegal. In other words, by providing this gateway between users, Napster is just allowing more and more people to listen to various artists and acquire more of a "feel" of what each artist has to bring to the marketplace of ideas.
Chuck D feels that by keeping Napster online, only positive outcomes will come forth in the future. "We want to draw attention to the positive aspects that Napster has to offer artists. They need to realize that they can benefit infinitely from what is has to offer," he said. He and others feel that Napster encourages and allows more unsigned bands to use the technology to gain more exposure and it gives them the opportunity to release an album in a shorter period of time.
This is believed to be very similar to the radio. As Chuck D put it, "We should think of (Napster) as a new kind of radio-a promotional tool that can help artists who don't have the opportunity to get their music played on mainstream radio or on MTV." Napster's CEO Eileen Richardson said, "We believe [that] just like radio, the more people hear songs, the more they want [to] buy the CD."
In addition to RIAA and several music artists showing their disproval towards Napster, numerous universities across the nation, including Penn State University, Northwestern and Wesleyan, have all banned student use of Napster. The main argument that these universities are posing against Napster is not that students are creating a black market for illegal copies of digital music, but it is due to the fact that so many students are using the program, and it is using too much of the bandwidths as a result.
Napster turns every individual computer running the program into an individual server, very large amounts (roughly 2 - 10 megabytes for each MP3 file) of data are being continuously transferred out onto the network. Now with thousands and thousands of students using this program at once, networks are continuously being clogged, making research and basic Internet use on the Web nearly impossible. Alan Cubbage, Vice President of University Relations at Northwestern University said, "As much as 30 percent of our Internet access was going to this one particular site, and that was causing other access to slow down as a result."
Although I don't personally don't use Napster on a regular basis, I do feel that Napster should be kept online. I believe, along with many of my friends, that it allows users a chance to listen to songs more often, which in the long run can only help the music artists and record companies. For example, students who go to schools similar to mine, (Penn State University) that are not close enough to any major cities, aren't able to pick a Hip-Hop and R&B radio station. Thus, the only way to hear new songs is either through tapes and CDs from out of town or by watching music videos. While music videos are a great way to hear a particular song and feel the emotions of the artists, the newest and most recent songs are not always shown through videos. Every time someone hears a song on Napster that they really like, they could be more likely to go out and purchase that CD.
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