James Norton
Napster — the music distribution system of the future
written lately about Napster, the new peer-to-peer music distribution network that has thrown the world of commercial music distribution into a tizzy of colossal proportions.
The Recording Industry Association of America has sued the Napster company, charging that it has been "operating as a haven for music piracy."
But today's music piracy might become tomorrow's mainstream distribution system - if the corporate giants that control the music industry are able to adapt to the threateningly open-ended way Napster users are able to share illegally copied songs with each other.
By letting Napster users communicate directly with one another, the Napster system allows a massive, international network of music swapping to thrive on the Internet. There is no central warehouse of illegally dubbed MP3 files - Napster's brilliance is that it creates a searchable index of all other Napster users on the 'net, allowing a user to browse through the music collections of thousands of semi-anonymous users around the world.
But it's one thing to know about Napster - experiencing it is another thing altogether. Recently, my housemate asked me if I was interested in giving the system a try.
"Absolutely," I said, somewhat skeptical of Napster's ability to find what I wanted to hear. "Find me 'Rudie Can't Fail', by the Clash, the techno version of the Speed Racer soundtrack and 'Rhapsody in Blue' by George Gershwin."
Dozens of relevant entries came up within moments of my request - including a smorgasbord of Gershwin songs. Apparently, Gershwin afficianados frequent Napster with the same intensity as fans of modern music.
Within minutes, I had mp3 files of all three tracks, which I listened to through a stereo system while I worked on several other projects.
There's no doubt that Napster is a music listener's delight. The ability to instantly conjure up a handful of old, well-loved songs is nothing to be scoffed at, and another clear triumph of the Information Age.
But it's hard not to accumulate Napster-related guilt, as well. In fact, it's fair to say that most conscientious citizens who use the program will feel more than a little queasy about it, since what they're doing is technically... well, illegal.
Illicit or not, the changes wrought by Napster may be more difficult to undo. An entire generation of music-listeners has learned that there's a better way to get the music they want - and even if government manages to stomp it out, the memory will remain.
What this memory means is that there's a consumer gold mine for the first corporation (or consortium) that can figure out how to harnass the ease and breadth of Napster's peer-to-peer distribution system.
No one has thoroughly explored the economics of a Napster system harnassed to a minor per-use fee. In an age where information distribution is becoming increasingly difficult to slow down, it may very well turn out that a company that makes all of its songs available for 25 cents a download could make considerably more money than a company forcing its customers to buy arbitrarily grouped packages of songs (okay, albums) for $13.99 apiece.
Freedom of information does not necessarily have to mean the end of compensation for the companies that produce and market music - or the artists who initially wrote and performed the songs.
If the music companies and licensing agencies that make the music industry spin know what's good for them, they may very well change their assessment of Napster from "threat" to "wave of the future."