Napster Essay Research Paper The Napster DebateEssay
Napster Essay, Research Paper
The Napster Debate
Essay written by ethan
1. Background
The Napster package ( hypertext transfer protocol: //www.napster.com ) , launched early in 1999, allows cyberspace users to portion and download MP3 files straight from any computing machine connected to the Napster web. The package is used by downloading a client plan from the Napster site and so linking to the web through this package, which allows sharing ( uploading and downloading ) of MP3 files between all users connected to the web. While Napster does non excuse right of first publication violation, there is no chance in the package to halt this, or for royalties to be paid to creative persons whose vocals are being duplicated for free.
Unlike similar file-sharing applications ( Gnutella, Freenet ) , Napster limits users to uploading/downloading of MP3 files merely. These files are compressed moving ridge ( .wav ) files. The advantage of MP3 files is that they are about one-tenth the size of the corresponding.wav file and can be close-to-CD-quality. It is for this ground that many creative persons, record labels and other music industry stakeholders are concerned by the MP3 file format and applications like Napster that simplify the sharing of copyrighted stuff.
Other file formats in common usage on the Internet are non as endangering to the recording industry ; chiefly due to the reduced quality of the recording. Real sound ( .ra, .rm ) files have reduced sound quality ( comparable to radio ) and are normally streamed over a different protocol, leting people to listen to vocals without holding ( or being able ) to download the beginning files. Another & # 8216 ; music & # 8217 ; file format common on the cyberspace is the midi format. These files are of no menace to the music industry because the files are non really a recording of the music ; instead a set of instructions to the computing machine as to what sounds to play ( and there is no manner to double vocal paths ) . This file format is besides going outdated and being used less and less.
2. Impact
The reaction from entering creative persons, record labels and other music industry participants has been varied, but chiefly anti-Napster. The first action to be taken against Napster was by the set Metallica. In April of this twelvemonth, they sued Napster Inc for right of first publication violation. The instance was settled out of tribunal when Napster agreed to censor some 300,000 users who had allegedly downloaded Metallica vocals. Again in June Napster Inc was sued for right of first publication violation by The Recording Industry Association of America ( RIAA ) , a trade group stand foring the US recording industry, avering & # 8220 ; Napster is? enabling and promoting the illegal copying and distribution of copyrighted music & # 8221 ; . Napster claims that Audio Home Recording Act that permits copying of stuff for personal usage, allows it & # 8217 ; s utilizations to trade MP3s. Napster farther claims unsusceptibility by specifying the company as an ISP under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The RIAA unsuccessfully applied to hold an injunction to halt Napster & # 8217 ; s operations until after the tribunal instance in September, so Napster will go on to run until ( and if ) the tribunal regulations against Napster.
Other creative persons and record labels ( hypertext transfer protocol: //www.napster.com/speakout/artists.html and hypertext transfer protocol: //www.napster.com/speakout/labels.html ) have responded to the coming of Napster and similar applications in a more positive manner, encompassing the new engineering instead than rejecting it. On their web site, the Offspring says & # 8220 ; MP3 engineering and plans such as Napster [ are ] a critical and necessary agencies to advance music and Foster better relationships with our fans. & # 8221 ; Interestingly plenty, the Offspring & # 8217 ; s last album, Americana, was made available on-line illicitly before commercially released, yet it is the set & # 8217 ; s best-selling album to day of the month. Furthermore, a figure of studies have proven that Napster users really buy more Cadmiums, after & # 8217 ; trying & # 8217 ; the vocals online ( hypertext transfer protocol: //www.theregister.co.uk/content/1/12093.html ) . It is this issue that is at the nucleus of the RIAA case, whether Napster and similar applications will intend decreased Cadmium gross revenues. Napster does dispute the traditional distribution of music ( CDs, cassettes, vinyl etc ) but whether this should be viewed as a menace or merely a new medium to be exploited by the music industry is another issue. Some record labels, most notably Epitaph ( hypertext transfer protocol: //www.epitaph.com ) have partnered with sites like e-music.com to sell full albums and individual vocals in MP3 format over the web. In this instance, the record company has in fact gained a new distribution method, instead than seeing it as the & # 8216 ; enemy & # 8217 ; . Of class, in this scenario, the record company still gets a cut of the net incomes, something that artists & # 8217 ; whose vocals are downloaded through Napster don & # 8217 ; t acquire.
The fact that Napster is free and more convenient than sing a record shop makes it an appealing manner to acquire music for consumers. The job the record companies have is that there is no manner of regulation who has entree to the information, and therefore no manner of gaining from it.
Napster besides facilitates international distribution for unsigned creative persons. This besides threatens record labels. Previously, without being signed to a record label, an creative person merely could non acquire the exposure to do a life as a instrumentalist. With the Internet, sites like mp3.com and Napster, this is now possible.
While Napster does let music sharing to an extent that could theoretically destruct the retail music industry, halting Napster will non halt all their jobs. Record labels need to see this new engineering non as a menace, but as a challenge. They need to come up with thoughts to promote people to purchase CDs ( multimedia constituents, attractive graphics, wordss, image books etc ) . Possibly if they offered better services to their signed creative persons, fewer creative persons would desire to let go of their music themselves.
Napster challenges the music industry & # 8217 ; s monopoly on distribution. Peoples can now download music for free in their ain places and creative persons can let go of their music themselves. In theory, this could intend the terminal of record labels and other associated companies, and that is why groups like the RIAA are so disquieted.
3. Possible Solutions
The music industry & # 8217 ; s response to Napster is similar to the response to the debut of cassette tapes and VCRs. Both new engineerings allowed people to enter and double copyrighted information and at the clip, these were seen as menaces to the several industries, but clip has proven that tape recordings are no replacement for professional, commercial recordings. The same can be said for Napster ; while the vocals can be downloaded, they are non CD quality ( for the most portion ) and complete albums are really hard to come by on Napster. Once an MP3 is downloaded, it can merely be listened to on a computing machine ( or a walkman-style device, such as RIO ) . Cadmiums, on the other manus, are more portable & # 8211 ; they can be easy listened to anyplace, on a computing machine, stereo, Walkman, in a auto, friends & # 8217 ; stereos etc. Although MP3s can be written to Cadmiums, the degree of expertness required to make this means that for most people it is easier to purchase a commercial Cadmium.
The & # 8216 ; extras & # 8217 ; consumers get when they purchase commercial Cadmiums besides encourage people to purchase CDs. Artwork, wordss, images and other line drive information make the purchase of a Cadmium more valuable than merely the music. However, new promotions such as multimedia constituents for computing machines ( already available on some Cadmiums, eg Blue Plate Special by the Dance Hall Crashers ) including video footage, exposures, games etc would promote the purchase of Cadmiums more so. If Cadmiums were released with better & # 8216 ; extras & # 8217 ; and reduced monetary values, people would be more likely to buy them. In this instance, Napster could go on, functioning it & # 8217 ; s aim as a & # 8216 ; seek before you buy & # 8217 ; appli
cation for the music industry.
Merely as people still buy and lease pictures even though they can enter films from Television and borrow tapes from friends, people will go on to purchase CDs, and will be encouraged even more so if monetary values are reduced and extras given away with the music.
Music industry participants such as BMG ( Bertelsmann Music Group ) , EMI, Sony and Universal are already establishing attempts to battle Napster and take advantage of the chances the Internet offers ( hypertext transfer protocol: //www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/12778.html ) . These companies are establishing their ain MP3 gross revenues and distribution services, or offering subscription services that allow registered users to download limitless paths for a limited clip. It is besides deserving observing that e-music.com already offers this type of service, including a monthly subscription service. However, on e-music, users can download limitless MP3s from a figure of labels, whereas the label MP3 distribution sites will entirely administer the record label & # 8217 ; s MP3s. Possibly finally sites like e-music.com will spouse with all labels, including the bigger 1s and will offer a better service ( faster downloads, better quality files, more assortment etc ) than Napster can.
However, the fact that over US $ 15 million has been invested in Napster Inc means that Napster will non decease easy. If the RIAA is successful in it & # 8217 ; s current case against the company, Napster will merely alter way. A few solutions have been suggested.
Probably the most practical and realistic option that has been suggested is that Napster Inc pays royalties to creative persons when their vocals are downloaded, much like the wireless pays creative persons when their vocals are played.
Another solution is that Napster could work with the music industry to administer certain sample paths to the populace. These paths could be distributed royalty-free as publicity for the album, or Napster could hold to pay royalties.
Another solution being adopted by other similar information-sharing applications like Napster, Freenet and Gnutella is to do file transportations over the application anon. . Adding to that, the fact that the cardinal waiters themselves do non hold to incorporate any copyrighted files, tracking down users transgressing copyright statute law will be improbably hard.
4. Professionals and Cons of Possible Solutions
The option of Napster paying royalties to creative persons whose vocals are downloaded would be a positive move because it would intend that creative persons receive just compensation for their work.
However, on the other manus, to back up the tremendous cost of such a move, Napster would either hold to turn into a paid subscription service, or demo advertisement ( which wouldn & # 8217 ; t needfully cover the costs ) . Added to this, the cost of modifying the application, and working out a manner to find what vocals have been downloaded, the disposal costs for Napster would skyrocket.
The option of a concerted attempt with the music industry has the advantage of being totally legal and halting all struggles between Napster and the RIAA. However, such a theoretical account would intend a great decrease in the figure of vocals available and would extinguish the & # 8217 ; sharing & # 8217 ; facet of the plan.
The advantage of the anon. peer-to-peer theoretical account is that if no corporation, single or other entity claims ownership, no 1 can be sued. And because no files are stored on the cardinal waiter, no right of first publication is being infringed at that place.
The disadvantage of this method, would be that Napster would still be interrupting the jurisprudence, and doubtless new statute law would be brought in and steps would be taken to halt the service. Furthermore, if Napster could non take recognition officially for their package, so they could non gain from it ( something they need to make, sing the investing in the company )
5. Recommendations
I believe that Napster is a valuable plan and an indicant of things to come. However, in its current province, it will hold a really difficult clip staying legal. I believe the lone manner Napster will last will be to alter its service ( and it may in fact be forced to by the tribunals ) . I would propose that Napster develops some system of paying royalties to creative persons whose vocals are downloaded over their package. It is truly the lone practical manner that Napster can go on and even though it will be the company a batch to implement this system, it will intend that Napster will be safe from judicial proceeding by the music industry. It will intend that Napster users will no longer hold to worry that they are interrupting the jurisprudence, and will promote creative persons to encompass on-line distribution. I would urge that Napster subsidises the cost of the royalty payments by demoing advertisement within the application ( much like GetRight ( hypertext transfer protocol: //www.getright.com/ ) and CuteFTP ( hypertext transfer protocol: //www.cuteftp.com ) do ) . This advertisement could be used by advertizers to aim music partisans, intending increased gross for Napster. I believe that if the royalty option, subsidised by advertisement is implemented, Napster will be able to go on safely and productively.
Bibliography
6. Bibliography
Napster & # 8211 ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www.napster.com/ & # 8211 ; 20/8/00
Gnutella & # 8211 ; hypertext transfer protocol: //gnutella.wego.com/ & # 8211 ; 20/8/00
FreeNet & # 8211 ; hypertext transfer protocol: //freenet.sourceforge.net/ & # 8211 ; 20/8/00
E-Music.com & # 8211 ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www.emusic.com/ & # 8211 ; 21/8/00
MP3.com & # 8211 ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www.mp3.com/ & # 8211 ; 22/8/00
RIAA / Who We Are & # 8211 ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www.riaa.com/About-Who.cfm & # 8211 ; 3/9/00
RIAA / Napster & # 8211 ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www.riaa.com/napster_legal.cfm & # 8211 ; 3/9/00
RIAA / On Deck / FAQ on Napster and Digital Music & # 8211 ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www.riaa.com/Napster.cfm & # 8211 ; 3/9/00
About Us & # 8211 ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www.freeballer.com/AboutUs.html
The Offspring: : MP3 Technology and Napster & # 8211 ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www.offspring.com/napster.html & # 8211 ; 3/9/00
We will Barricade Napster at Source & # 8211 ; Sony Exec & # 8211 ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/12780.html & # 8211 ; 3/9/00
Napster bans most Alleged Metallica Pirates & # 8211 ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www.theregister.co.uk/content/archive/11131.html & # 8211 ; 3/9/00
Metallica to Shame & # 8211 ; but non call & # 8211 ; Napster Pirates & # 8211 ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www.theregister.co.uk/content/archive/10613.html & # 8211 ; 2/9/00
MP3 Fans buy more Cadmiums than non-fans & # 8211 ; study & # 8211 ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www.theregister.co.uk/content/archive/12647.html & # 8211 ; 4/9/00
Napster Boosts CD gross revenues & # 8211 ; study & # 8211 ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www.theregister.co.uk/content/1/12093.html & # 8211 ; 4/9/00
Napster Details Copyright Case Defence & # 8211 ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www.theregister.co.uk/content/archive/11750.html & # 8211 ; 2/9/00
US Appeal Court sets Date for Napster Trial & # 8211 ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www.theregister.co.uk/content/1/12909.html & # 8211 ; 2/9/00
Napster Loses Preliminary Hearing & # 8211 ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www.theregister.co.uk/content/archive/10729.html & # 8211 ; 2/9/00
Napster throws Metallica a Curvevall & # 8211 ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www.salon.com/tech/log/2000/05/10/napster_metallica/index.html & # 8211 ; 31/8/00
Napster to Face Music in Courtroom & # 8211 ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/review/crh121.htm & # 8211 ; 2/9/00
Napster is Ordered to Halt Swap of Music & # 8211 ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www.latimes.com/business/reports/musicweb/lat_napster000727.htm & # 8211 ; 2/9/00
AOL Unit Runs Napster-like Search Engine & # 8211 ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www.latimes.com/business/reports/musicweb/lat_aol000810.htm & # 8211 ; 4/9/00
Cohen, Adam, & # 8220 ; The Info Anarchist & # 8221 ; , TIME Magazine, 26/6/00
Napster non Protected by Copyright Law & # 8211 ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/review/crh499.htm & # 8211 ; 2/9/00
Napster claims Injunction Unwarranted & # 8211 ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/review/crh428.htm & # 8211 ; 3/9/00
RIAA dubs Napster Defence & # 8216 ; Patently Baseless & # 8217 ; & # 8211 ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/11937.html & # 8211 ; 4/9/00
