p2pnet - rss feed: When Napster was Napster
p2pnet.net news:- I just finished taking your Sultans of Spin survey and one of the questions got me thinking.
If the RIAA is somehow involved in advocating a level playing field for digital music distribution, then why didn’t the RIAA embrace Napster in it’s original file sharing form?
I was very active on Napster during it’s peak in 2000, and I’d say that was about as level of a playing field as you could get for music distribution. I could literally find any song I was looking for, download it, play it on whatever device I wanted, and even chat with the user I got it from, or browse their collection to see how varied their music tastes were compared to mine.
Napster had an incredible community of very friendly users, and for me that was one of the things that made the original Napster so neat.
Instead of suing it out of existence, the RIAA should’ve embraced the new digital method of music distribution by setting up Napster clients on good fast internet connections where users could then download their favorite tracks directly from the RIAA, and perhaps maybe even from time to time chat with their favorite artists. Now how cool would that’ve been!
I believe the RIAA could’ve made tons of money even on Napster, as maybe perhaps what could’ve happened was you’d pay a small monthly fee like maybe $5.00 or even a flat yearly rate or something and have unlimited access to Napster. You could download from users or RIAA clients, but you could still share just as before.
To me that would’ve been a level playing field. Clearly, consumers loved the potential of the original Napster and would’ve paid for access if required. There were Napster clients for Linux and Windows, PC and Mac, so things were perfect.
Instead of taking advantage of the chance that the RIAA had to profit off this emerging way of distributing content, they sued it out of existence!
And as we all know, the new Napster, like itunes and everyone else, has music, but it’s certainly not a level playing field, as you’ve got restrictions on what devices you can play content on, and unlike the good Napster, you can’t get any track you want, like the beetles for instance, and you call that a level playing field RIAA?
I’ll never forget my days on dialup when I’d leave my Napster online, either downloading or sometimes just to share, while I went out to go do something, and I’d come back to my mother arguing with me because she couldn’t use the phone because I was tieing it up with my Napster sharing, oh that was fun for sure!
I’d be curious how many p2pnet readers remember the original Napster and if they have any good Napster stories to share, because that was when we truly had a community and a level playing field.
Monty Icenogle - p2pnet
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Tired of being treated like a criminal? They depend on you, not the other way around. Don’t buy their ‘product’. Do bug your local politicians. Use emails, snail-mail, phone calls, faxes, IM, stop them in the street, blog. And if you’re into organizing, organize petitions, organize demonstrations and then turn up on your local political rep’s doorstep, making sure you’ve contacted your local tv/radio station/newspaper in advance. Don’t just complain. Do something!
April 17th, 2007 at 9:32 am
then why didn’t the RIAA embrace Napster in it’s original file sharing form?
Here’s why:
Imagine you’re in a garrage band. You’re one of the very FEW lucky ones that’s actually going to become big. Record companies offer you contracts. Then out of nowhere NAPSTER starts signing bands directly. Since your music is just going to be sold on Napster you say, “why involve the record companies?” Napster has the variety that attracts everyone away from radio. MTV doesn’t play music. Record companies want a bigger percentage of royalties to cover marketing, distribution, and promotion (all of which are cheaper with P2P). Napster offers you more royalties. So you sign with Napster and there’s nothing the record dinosaurs can do but go out of business. Napster, which started as just a distribution system has become their own record company.
April 17th, 2007 at 12:23 pm
P2P is piracy, theft. Nothing else. Do you regularly walk into retail stores, load up with whatever you want, and walk out without paying? I doubt it. Why? Two reasons. 1) you know it’s wrong and have a sense of moral obligation to do what’s right, and 2) if you did, you could be caught and sent to jail. Why do you think the creators and owners of music deserve any less from you? Nothing in life is free except air and sometimes water. You know this. Why do you people keep insisting music should be free? Are you just retarded? Or what?
April 17th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
air is free. Music is just movment of air. thus it should be free.
April 17th, 2007 at 1:34 pm
and what is wrong with that?
April 17th, 2007 at 1:56 pm
Nothing is wrong with it. I wasn’t implyig that it was.
April 17th, 2007 at 2:20 pm
Be you Gachnar or be you a mere look-alike. Har Har!
April 17th, 2007 at 6:21 pm
Are you an RIAA schill? If you are, shut up! If you’re not, shut up anyway!
April 17th, 2007 at 7:57 pm
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