Dec 14

Napster

NAPSTER

 
Napster  was the name given to two music-focused online services.  It was originally founded as a pioneering peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing Internet service that emphasized sharing audio files, typically music, encoded in MP3 format.  The original company ran into legal difficulties over copyright infringement, ceased operations and was eventually acquired by Roxio.  In its second incarnation, Napster became an online music store until it was acquired by Rhapsody from Best Buy on December 1, 2011.   (More from Wikipedia)
 
 
Plagiarizing music is not so straightforward to spot as, say, plagiarizing a term paper.  On the other hand, theft is theft:  Almost no one defends the right to simply steal someone else’s work, whether or not it is resold; the term for that is “piracy”.  The “music-sharing” website from the late 1990’s called Napster had millions of songs easily available as free downloads in the mp3 format.  When the heavy metal band Metallica learned that their new single “I Disappear” was available on Napster even before it was officially released (and subsequently discovered the rest of their catalogue on the site as well), they filed suit against the service in 2000.  The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) had already done so, and other artists followed suit.  In July 2001, Napster shut down their free service; and, for several years, they continued to offer individual songs for download, though this time for a fee.  Over the years, this has become the preferred method of purchasing music by a huge slice of the buying public; and eventually, the album as we know it might disappear from the music world entirely – in any format. 
 
In their defense during threatened and actual lawsuits, the owners of Napster maintained that many of the songs on their website were bootlegged rather than pirated, though those that were actually downloaded matched in popularity songs available in the general marketplace.  
 
(August 2012)
 
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There are actually a lot of websites out there that talk about Blair 1523:  It might be surprising to some that a search of the band name in quotes brings up 18,100 hits on Google.  The first page of Google hits has a YouTube video of “Fantasy of Folk”, the Bomp! Mailorder site where the “last copies” of the CD can still be purchased plus another listing on Amazon.com, the mention of the band in my Wikipedia article on the Outcasts, the Allmusic review and the Julian Cope blog mentioned above, a listing on last.fm that actually has some information and even a photo of Blair 1523, and more barren listings on mtv.com, Discogs, and Rate Your Music.  Further Google pages bring up other barebones listings – the one on Ticketmaster that offers concert tickets and tour schedules for a band that broke up 20 years ago is particularly hilarious – and other places to buy the CD and rate the music and see the lyrics and download “free” MP3’s (Napster lives!). 

 

(September 2013)

 

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Before I get into The Iguana Chronicles – the series of albums of Stooges music put out by Greg Shaw of Bomp! Records – I’ll take some time to relate my early acquisitions of albums of this kind.  There are records out there which are not authorized that can include recordings that fans cannot get any other way.  They are usually referred to as “bootleg” records and consist of music that was never officially released.  “Pirated” records are illegal copies of major-label releases, and they are a different thing altogether.  That is what got Napster into so much trouble many years ago.  Bootlegs exist in a grey area and are generally (if grudgingly) tolerated by the music industry.  In the same way, the major record labels almost never try to retake possession of the early promo copies of albums that are supplied to DJ’s and rock critics ahead of the official releases, even though they are typically marked with something like:  “Licensed for promotional use only.  Sale is prohibited.” 
 
(September 2017)
 
Last edited: April 7, 2021