With all of this also comes the questions of copyrights. At least 33 artists, such as Kid Rock and Metallica, have spoken out against Napster, a site where one can download music for free. This has resulted in litigation between record companies, Recording Industries Association of America (RIAA) and several Internet sites. The court will announce their decision on the fate of Napster during October. But already many in the music industry are carefully eyeing the next "MP3" site waiting to fill the void.
Why RIAA and the 33 artists so concerned?
"RIAA, on behalf of its members, sued Napster because it launched a service that enables and facilitates piracy of music on an unprecedented scale. "At any single point in time, hundreds of thousands of users may be logged onto Napster offering millions of pirated sound recordings." - Napster Lawsuit Q&A from the RIAA site
What is Napster?
"Napster is a software program that allows you to find your favorite music by connecting you to the computers of millions of other users."Napster is the simplest way to find the MP3s you want, whenever you want, and share them with the world's largest community of music lovers... ever." - Napster.com
In other words, you connect to other people online and download and share MP3 files through their special program.
Why is Napster doing it?
"This is new territory for lots of people, and new laws are going to be made surrounding these issues. The last thing we want to do is to piss off artists," said Napster's Richardson. "We believe [that] just like radio, the more people hear songs, the more they want [to] buy the CD." - Wired from Napster's debut on the Net
Are all artists against it?
Several major artists have swamped to the aid of Napster, perhaps playing a part in keeping the stay in the court injunction. Some popular bands/artist to note are: Limp Bizkit and Prince.
What's in store for the future?
As in most cases these days dealing with the Internet, the results of this case will set a precedent on many interactions on the Internet. The verdict will determine how far the responsibility lies in the providers of services on the Internet. Are providers accountable for the illegal actions of their customers? What constitutes "knowing" of violations?
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