The Napster corporate logo.

Napster was an online music file sharing service created by Shawn Fanning while he was attending Northeastern University in Boston and operating between June 1999 ^[1] and July 2001. See Shared resource for the conventional meaning of file sharing File sharing refers to the providing and receiving of digital files over a Shawn "Napster" Fanning (born November 22, 1980, Brockton Massachusetts) is a Computer programmer. It was the first widely-used peer-to-peer sharing service, and it made a major impact on how people, especially university students, used the Internet. A university is an institution of Higher education and Research, which grants Academic degrees in a variety of subjects The Internet is a global system of interconnected Computer networks Its technology allowed music fans to easily share MP3 format song files with each other, thus leading to the music industry's accusations of massive copyright violations. MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a Digital audio encoding format using a form of Lossy data compression 'Copyright infringement' (or copyright violation) is the unauthorized use of material that is covered by Copyright law in a manner that violates Although the original service was shut down by court order, it paved the way for decentralized peer-to-peer file-sharing programs, which have been much harder to control. The service was named Napster after Fanning's nickname.

Napster's brand and logo were purchased after the company closed its doors and continue to be used by a pay service. Napster Inc ( formerly Roxio, Inc is an online music service offering a variety of purchase and subscription models

Origins

Napster 2. 0 Beta 7's file transfer screen during Napster's heyday. Note the Search, Library and Transfer buttons, prototypical of the many peer-to-peer systems to follow.

Shawn Fanning along with two friends he'd met online, Jordan Ritter, a fellow Bostonian, and Sean Parker, from Virginia, first released the original Napster in June of 1999. Shawn "Napster" Fanning (born November 22, 1980, Brockton Massachusetts) is a Computer programmer. Year 1999 ( MCMXCIX) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar) ^[2] Fanning wanted an easier method of finding music than by searching IRC or Lycos. Lycos is a search engine and web portal centered around broadband entertainment content John Fanning of Hull, Massachusetts, who is Shawn's uncle ran all aspects of the company's operations for a period from their office on Nantasket beach. Hull is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. The final agreement gave Shawn 30% control of the company, with the rest going to his uncle. It was the first of the massively popular peer-to-peer file sharing systems, although it was not fully peer-to-peer since it used central servers to maintain lists of connected systems and the files they provided, while actual transactions were conducted directly between machines. This is very similar to how instant messaging systems work. Although there were already networks that facilitated the sharing of files across the Internet, such as IRC, Hotline, and USENET, Napster specialized exclusively in music in the form of MP3 files and presented a friendly user-interface. Hotline Communications Limited (HCL was a Software company founded in 1997, based in Toronto, Canada with employees also in the United States and Australia Usenet, a Portmanteau of "user" and "network" is a world-wide distributed Internet discussion system The result was a system whose popularity generated an enormous selection of music to download.

Although the recording industry denounced music sharing as equivalent to theft, many Napster users felt justified in using the service for a number of reasons. Many believed that the quality of new albums had decreased by the mid-1990s, with the typical bestselling album containing only one or two good songs bundled with many low-quality "filler" songs. People praised Napster because it enabled them to obtain hit songs without having to buy an entire album. Napster also made it relatively easy for music enthusiasts to download copies of songs that were otherwise difficult to obtain, like older songs, unreleased recordings, and songs from concert bootleg recordings. A bootleg recording is an audio and/or Video recording of a performance that was not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority Some users felt justified in downloading digital copies of recordings they had already purchased in other formats, like LP and cassette tape, before the compact disc emerged as the dominant format for music recordings. A gramophone The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a Magnetic tape sound A Compact Disc (also known as a CD) is an Optical disc used to store digital data, originally developed for storing digital audio

Irrespective of these justifications, many other users simply enjoyed trading and downloading music for free. With the files obtained through Napster, people frequently made their own compilation albums on recordable CDs, without paying any royalties to the artist/composer or the estate of the artist/composer. A CD-R ( C ompact D isc- R ecordable is a variation of the Compact Disc invented by Philips and Sony. High-speed networks in college dormitories became overloaded, with as much as 80% of external network traffic consisting of MP3 file transfers. Many colleges blocked its use for this reason, even before concerns about liability for facilitating copyright violations on campus.

The service and software program were initially Windows-only, but in 2000 Black Hole Media wrote a Macintosh client called Macster. Macster was later bought by Napster and designated the official Mac Napster client, at which point the Macster name was discontinued. ^[3]

Legal challenges

Napster peaked in February 2001

Heavy metal band Metallica discovered that a demo of their song ‘I Disappear’ had been circulating across the Napster network, even before it was released. Metallica is an American heavy metal band that formed in 1981 in. "I Disappear" is a song by the heavy metal band Metallica. This eventually led to the song being played on several radio stations across America and brought to Metallica’s attention that their entire back catalogue of studio material was also available. The band responded in 2000 by filing a lawsuit against the service offered by Napster. A month later, rapper Dr. Dre, who shared a litigator and legal firm with Metallica, filed a similar lawsuit after Napster wouldn't remove his works from their service, even after he issued a written request. Andre Romelle Young (born February 18 1965 primarily known by his stage name Dr Separately, both Metallica and Dr. Dre later delivered thousands of usernames to Napster who they believed were pirating their songs. One year later, Napster settled both suits, but this came after being shut down by the Ninth Circuit Court in a separate lawsuit from several major record labels (see below). Also in 2000, Madonna, who had previously met with Napster executives to discuss a possible partnership, became irate when her single "Music" leaked out on to the web and Napster prior to its commercial release, causing widespread media coverage. Madonna Louise Ciccone Ritchie (born August 16 1958 known as Madonna, is an American " Music " is the first single by American singer-songwriter Madonna from her 8th studio album Music and was released on August ^[4] Verified Napster use peaked with 26. 4 million users worldwide in February 2001. February 2001: January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September ^[5]

In 2000, A&M records and several other recording companies sued Napster (A&M Records, Inc. v. Napster, Inc.) for contributory and vicarious copyright infringement under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMC Act). Facts The defendant Napster was a company started in 1999 by Shawn Fanning, then an 18-year old freshman computer-science student at Boston 's Northeastern The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA is a United States Copyright Law which implements two 1996 treaties of the World Intellectual Property ^[6] The music industry made the following claims against Napster:

(1) That its users were directly infringing the plaintiff's copyright; (2) That Napster was liable for contributory infringement of the plaintiff's copyright; and (3) That Napster was liable for vicarious infringement of the plaintiff's copyright.

The court found Napster guilty on all three claims. ^[7]

Napster lost the case in the District Court and appealed to the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Although the Ninth Circuit found that Napster was capable of commercially significant non-infringing uses, it affirmed the District Court's decision. On remand, the District Court ordered Napster to monitor the activities of its network and to block access to infringing material when notified of that material's location. Napster was unable to do this, and so shut down its service in July 2001. Napster finally declared itself bankrupt in 2002 and sold its assets. It had already been offline since the previous year owing to the effect of the court rulings. ^[8]

Promotional power

Along with the accusations that Napster was hurting the sales of the record industry, there were those who felt just the opposite, that file trading on Napster actually stimulated, rather than hurt, sales. Proof may have come in July 2000 when tracks from English rock band Radiohead's album Kid A found their way to Napster three months before the CD's release. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Radiohead Kid A is the fourth album by the English Alternative rock band Radiohead, released on in the United Kingdom and on in the United States and Canada Unlike Madonna, Dr. Dre or Metallica, Radiohead had never hit the top 20 in the US. Furthermore, Kid A was an experimental album without any singles, and received relatively little radio airplay. By the time of the record's release, the album was estimated to have been downloaded for free by millions of people worldwide, and in October 2000 Kid A captured the number one spot on the Billboard 200 sales chart in its debut week. The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard According to Richard Menta of MP3 Newswire,^[9] the effect of Napster in this instance was isolated from other elements that could be credited for driving sales, and the album's unexpected success was proof that Napster was a good promotional tool for music. Founded in 1998 the same year as MP3com MP3 Newswire is the oldest active news site devoted to digital media technology

One of the most successful bands to owe its success to Napster was Dispatch. Dispatch was an American indie / roots folk Jam band formed at Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont Being an independent band, they had no formal promotion or radio play, yet they were able to tour to cities they had never played and sell out concerts, thanks to the spread of their music on Napster. In July 2007, the band became the first independent band to ever headline New York City's Madison Square Garden, selling it out for three consecutive nights. The City of New York Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG, and known colloquially as The Garden, has been the name of four Arenas in New York City. The band members were avid supporters of Napster, promoting it at their shows, playing a Napster show around the time of the Congressional hearings, and attending the hearings themselves. Shawn Fanning, the founder of Napster, is a known Dispatch fan. Shawn "Napster" Fanning (born November 22, 1980, Brockton Massachusetts) is a Computer programmer.

Since 2000, many musical artists, particularly those not signed to major labels and without access to traditional mass media outlets such as radio and television, have said that Napster and successive Internet file-sharing networks have helped get their music heard, spread word of mouth, and may have improved their sales in the long term. Although some underground musicians and independent labels have expressed support for Napster and the p2p model it popularized, others have criticized the unregulated and extra-legal nature of these networks, and some seek to implement models of Internet promotion in which they can control the distribution of their own music, such as providing free tracks for download or streaming from their official websites, or co-operating with pay services such as Insound, Rhapsody and Apple's iTunes Store. Underground music refers to a variety of post-1960s rock pop or dance subgenres that developed a Cult following despite their lack of Mainstream appeal visibility Insound is an online CD, vinyl and MP3 retailer Located in New York NY it focuses primarily on the sale of Indie rock and music Rhapsody is an online music service run by RealNetworks. Launched in December 2001 Rhapsody was the first music service to offer streaming on-demand access to nearly Apple Inc, ( formerly Apple Computer Inc, is an American Multinational corporation with a focus on designing and manufacturing Consumer electronics The iTunes Store is a software-based online Digital media store operated by Apple Inc

Shutdown

Napster's facilitation of transfer of copyrighted material raised the ire of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which almost immediately — on December 7, 1999 — filed a lawsuit against the popular service. Events 43 BC - Marcus Tullius Cicero assassinated 1696 - Connecticut Route 108, one of the oldest highways Year 1999 ( MCMXCIX) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar) In law a lawsuit is a civil action brought before a Court in which the party commencing the action the Plaintiff, seeks a legal or equitable remedy ^[10][11] The service would only get bigger as the trial, meant to shut down Napster, also gave it a great deal of publicity. Soon millions of users, many of them college students, flocked to it.

After a failed appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court, an injunction was issued on March 5, 2001 ordering Napster to prevent the trading of copyrighted music on its network. The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit is a federal court with Appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts Events 363 - Roman Emperor Julian moves from Antioch with an army of 90000 to attack the Sassanid Empire, in a Year 2001 ( MMI) was a Common year starting on Monday according to the Gregorian calendar. ^[12] In July 2001, Napster shut down its entire network in order to comply with the injunction. July 2001: January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September On September 24, 2001, the case was partially settled. Events 622 - Prophet Muhammad completes his hegira from Mecca to Medina. Year 2001 ( MMI) was a Common year starting on Monday according to the Gregorian calendar. Napster agreed to pay music creators and copyright owners a $26 million settlement for past, unauthorized uses of music, as well as an advance against future licensing royalties of $10 million. In order to pay those fees, Napster attempted to convert their free service to a subscription system. A prototype solution was tested in the spring of 2002: the Napster 3. 0 Alpha, using the ". nap" secure file format from PlayMedia Systems and audio fingerprinting technology licensed from Relatable. Napster 3. 0 was, according to many former Napster employees, ready to deploy, but it had significant trouble obtaining licenses to distribute major-label music.

On May 17, 2002, Napster announced that its assets would be acquired by German media firm Bertelsmann for $85 million. Events 1521 - Edward Stafford 3rd Duke of Buckingham, is executed for Treason. See also 2002 (disambiguation Year 2002 ( MMII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. Bertelsmann AG is a transnational media corporation founded in 1835 based in Gütersloh, Germany. Pursuant to terms of that agreement, on June 3 Napster filed for Chapter 11 protection under United States bankruptcy laws. Events 350 - Roman usurper Nepotianus, of the Constantinian dynasty, proclaims himself Roman Emperor, entering Chapter 11 is a chapter of the United States Bankruptcy Code, which permits reorganization under the Bankruptcy laws of the United States The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Bankruptcy is a legally declared inability or impairment of ability of an individual or organization to pay their Creditors Creditors may file a bankruptcy petition against On September 3, 2002, an American bankruptcy judge blocked the sale to Bertelsmann and forced Napster to liquidate its assets according to Chapter 7 of the U. Events 36 BC - In the Battle of Naulochus, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, Admiral of Octavian, defeats Sextus Pompeius See also 2002 (disambiguation Year 2002 ( MMII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. Chapter 7 of the Title 11 of the United States Code (Bankruptcy Code governs the process of Liquidation under the Bankruptcy laws of the S. bankruptcy laws. ^[13]

Current status

Main article: Napster (pay service)

After a $2. Napster Inc ( formerly Roxio, Inc is an online music service offering a variety of purchase and subscription models 43 million takeover offer by the Private Media Group, an adult entertainment company,^[14] Napster's brand and logos were acquired at bankruptcy auction by the company Roxio, Inc. Private Media Group Inc is a Pornography production and distribution company that distributes its content via print publications DVDs the internet and mobile handsets Roxio is a division and brand of Sonic Solutions. It was originally a digital media company created from the 2001 spin-off of Adaptec 's Software Products Group followed which used them to rebrand the pressplay music service as Napster 2.0. pressplay is a trademark of the Multimedia- agency pressplay created in 1999 in Cologne by Ludger Hoffacker and Stefan Roettger ( visual artists, moviedirectors & photographers Napster Inc ( formerly Roxio, Inc is an online music service offering a variety of purchase and subscription models

Napster in popular culture

In the 2003 remake of The Italian Job, a flashback depicts Shawn Fanning (playing himself) stealing the program from a computer expert played by Seth Green while the latter is napping, providing a humorous folk etymology for the name. The Italian Job is a 2003 American Heist film directed by F Gary Gray. Seth Benjamin Green (born February 8, 1974) is an American Actor, Comedian, Voice actor, and Television producer Folk etymology is a term used in two distinct ways A commonly held misunderstanding of the origin of a particular word a False etymology. Later in the movie on the Los Angeles traffic control boards we see the phrase "You will never shut down the real Napster".

An episode of animated television series Futurama, I Dated a Robot, centres on the illegal distribution of robotic celebrity clones over the Internet. Futurama is an Emmy Award -winning animated American sitcom created by Matt Groening, and developed by Groening and "I Dated a Robot" is the fifteenth episode in season three of Futurama. The organization responsible for this was thought to be named "Nappster," a reference to Napster. It was later revealed, however, that the full name was "Kidnappster" with a piece of tapestry covering "Kid" from the logo.

In the South Park episode Christian Rock Hard, Stan, Kyle, and Kenny illegally download music for inspiration for their band 'Moop. South Park is an animated American television comedy series created and written by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for Comedy Central " Christian Rock Hard " is episode 709 of Comedy Central's South Park. ' They are then caught by police and shown the "horrors" music pirating does to musicians. After seeing this, they start a strike and famous musicians/bands join them, among them are Rancid, Master P, Ozzy Osbourne, Meat Loaf (all four also playing in Chef Aid), Blink-182, Horny Toad, Metallica, Britney Spears, Missy Elliott, Alanis Morissette and The Lords of the Underworld (minus Timmy). Rancid is a punk band formed in 1991 in Albany California, by Matt Freeman and Tim Armstrong. Percy Miller, better known as P Miller, (formerly Master P is an American entertainer and entrepreneur John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne (born December 3 1948) is a British singer Michael Lee Aday (born Marvin Lee Aday; September 27 1947 better known by his stage name Meat Loaf, is an American rock Musician Blink-182 was an American Pop Metallica is an American heavy metal band that formed in 1981 in. Britney Jean Spears (born December 2 1981 is an American recording artist and entertainer Melissa Arnette "Missy" Elliott (born July 1 1971 is a five-time Grammy Award -winning American rapper, singer, Songwriter, and Alanis Nadine Morissette (born June 1 1974 is a Canadian-born Singer-songwriter, Record producer, and Actress. " Timmy 2000" is the 51st episode of the Comedy Central Animated series South Park.

In a 2001 episode of the animated Disney series, The Proud Family, Penny becomes addicted to a site named EZ Jackster, a parody of Napster that allows music to be downloaded illegally. Year 2001 ( MMI) was a Common year starting on Monday according to the Gregorian calendar. The Proud Family is an American animated television series that aired on Disney Channel from September 15, 2001 to

A tribute song to file sharing "Napster and Gnutella" was written to the tune of "Puff, the Magic Dragon" and distributed via OpenNap servers during the lawsuit. "Puff the Magic Dragon" is also the nickname of the Douglas AC-47 Spooky gunship an American military plane used during the Vietnam War OpenNap is a discontinued peer-to-peer service server It was created as an Open source Napster server extending the Napster protocol to allow sharing of any

Musical parodist Johnny Crass satirised the 2000 Metallica v Napster conflict in his song "Internet Sandman", a parody of Metallica's "Enter Sandman". Johnny Crass is a song parodist best known for the songs "Internet Sandman" and "Bomb Osama" Metallica is an American heavy metal band that formed in 1981 in. " Enter Sandman " is a song by American heavy metal band Metallica, featured as the Opening track and lead single from their Crass takes a heavily anti-Metallica stance in the parody, and depicts the band and co-founder Lars Ulrich in particular as vengeful property-protectors whose actions over the controversy "screw the fans". Lars Ulrich (born December 26 1963) is a Danish Drummer best known as the co-founder of the American heavy metal

Tom Smith wrote a song called "I Want my Music on Napster". Tom Smith may refer to In sports: Tom Smith (19th century baseball infielder (1851–1889 Major League player Tom Smith (19th century

See also

• Napster Bad!
• OpenNap
• Snocap – Company founded by Shawn Fanning and other Ex-Napster Employees
• imeem – Founded and developed by ex-Napster employees, in February 2008 it purchased snocap. Napster Bad! is a series of popular but controversial Flash cartoons created by Bob Cesca from 2000 - 2003. OpenNap is a discontinued peer-to-peer service server It was created as an Open source Napster server extending the Napster protocol to allow sharing of any SNOCAP is a company founded in 2002 as an "end-to-end provider of digital licensing and copyright management services for digital music imeem is a Social media service where users interact with each other by watching posting and sharing content of all digital media types including blogs photos audio and SNOCAP is a company founded in 2002 as an "end-to-end provider of digital licensing and copyright management services for digital music

Notes

References

• Carlsson, Bengt and Gustavsson, Rune. 2001. "The Rise and Fall of Napster - An Evolutionary Approach. " Proceedings of the 6th International Computer Science Conference on Active Media Technology.
• Geisler, Markus and Pohlmann, Mali. 2003. "The Social Form of Napster: Cultivating the Paradox of Consumer Emancipation. " Advances in Consumer Research.
• Geisler, Markus and Pohlmann, Mali. 2003. "The Anthropology of File Sharing: Consuming Napster as a Gift. " Advances in Consumer Research.
• Green, Matthew. 2002. "Napster Opens Pandora’s Box: Examining How File-Sharing Services Threaten the Enforcement of Copyright on the Internet. " Ohio State Law Journal. 63: 799.
• InsightExpress. 2000. Napster and its Users Not violating Copyright Infringement Laws, According to a Survey of the Online Community.
• Ku, Raymond Shih Ray, "The Creative Destruction of Copyright: Napster and the New Economics of Digital Technology" . University of Chicago Law Review, Forthcoming Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=266964. or DOI: 10. 2139/ssrn. 266964
• McCourt, Tom and Burkart, Patrick. 2003. "When Creators, Corporations and Consumers Collide: Napster and the Development of On-line Music Distribution. " Media, Culture, & Society. 25 (3): 333-350.
• Orbach, Barak. 2008. "Indirect Free Riding on the Wheels of Commerce: Dual-Use Technologies and Copyright Liability" in Emory Law Journal, vol. 57: 409-461.

External links

• Napster, Inc. Website - Formerly Roxio, Inc. Roxio is a division and brand of Sonic Solutions. It was originally a digital media company created from the 2001 spin-off of Adaptec 's Software Products Group followed
• The Napster Experience - netnographic research on file-sharing as a form of gift giving
• Judge criticises both parties in Napster case