Napster Explained

Napster
Logo Caption:	Variation of the Napster Logo
Screenshot Size:	250
Discontinued:	yes
Operating System:	cross-platform
Language:	Multilingual
Genre:	Media player

Napster was an American peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing application primarily associated with digital audio file distribution. Founded by Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker, the platform originally launched on June 1, 1999. Audio shared on the service was typically encoded in the MP3 format. As the software became popular, the company encountered legal difficulties over copyright infringement. Napster ceased operations in 2001 after losing multiple lawsuits and filed for bankruptcy in June 2002.

The P2P model employed by Napster involved a centralized database that indexed a complete list of all songs being shared from connected clients. While effective, the service could not function without the central database, which was hosted by Napster and eventually forced to shut down. Following Napster's demise, alternative decentralized methods of P2P file-sharing emerged, including LimeWire, Gnutella, Freenet, FastTrack, and BitTorrent.

Napster's assets were eventually acquired by Roxio, and it re-emerged as an online music store commonly known as Napster 2.0. Best Buy later purchased the service and merged it with its Rhapsody streaming service on December 1, 2011.^[1] In 2016, the original branding was restored when Rhapsody was renamed Napster. In 2022, the Napster streaming service was acquired by two Web3 companies, Hivemind and Algorand. Jon Vlassopulos was appointed as CEO.^[2]

Origin

Napster was founded by Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker.^[3] Initially, Napster was envisioned by Fanning as an independent peer-to-peer file sharing service. The service operated between June 1999 and July 2001.^[4] Its technology enabled people to easily share their MP3 files with other participants.^[5] Although the original service was shut down by court order, the Napster brand survived after the company's assets were liquidated and purchased by other companies through bankruptcy proceedings.^[6]

History

Although there were already networks that facilitated the distribution of files across the Internet, such as IRC, Hotline, and Usenet, Napster specialized in MP3 files of music and had a user-friendly interface. At its peak, the Napster service had about 80 million registered users.^[7] Napster made it relatively easy for music enthusiasts to download copies of songs that were otherwise difficult to obtain, such as older songs, unreleased recordings, studio recordings, and songs from concert bootleg recordings. Napster paved the way for streaming media services and transformed music into a public good for a brief time.

High-speed networks in college dormitories became overloaded, with as much as 61% of external network traffic consisting of MP3 file transfers.^[8] Many colleges blocked its use for this reason,^[9] even before concerns about liability for facilitating copyright violations on campus.

Macintosh version

The service and software program began as Windows-only. However, in 2000, Black Hole Media wrote a Macintosh client called Macster. Macster was later bought by Napster and designated the official Mac Napster client ("Napster for the Mac"), at which point the Macster name was discontinued.^[10] Even before the acquisition of Macster, the Macintosh community had a variety of independently developed Napster clients. The most notable was the open source client called MacStar, released by Squirrel Software in early 2000, and Rapster, released by Overcaster Family in Brazil.^[11] The release of MacStar's source code paved the way for third-party Napster clients across all computing platforms, giving users advertisement-free music distribution options.

Legal challenges

Heavy metal band Metallica discovered a demo of their song "I Disappear" had been circulating across the network before it was released. This led to it being played on several radio stations across the United States, which alerted Metallica to the fact that their entire back catalogue of studio material was also available. On April 13, 2000, they filed a lawsuit against Napster. A month later, rapper and producer Dr. Dre, who shared a litigator and legal firm with Metallica, filed a similar lawsuit after Napster refused his written request to remove his works from its service. Separately, Metallica and Dr. Dre later delivered to Napster thousands of usernames of people who they believed were pirating their songs. In March 2001, Napster settled both suits, after being shut down by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in a separate lawsuit from several major record labels (see below).^[12] In 2000, Madonna's single "Music" was leaked out onto the web and Napster prior to its commercial release, causing widespread media coverage.^[13] Verified Napster use peaked with 26.4 million users worldwide in February 2001.^[14]

In 2000, the American musical recording company A&M Records along with several other recording companies, through the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), sued Napster (A&M Records, Inc. v. Napster, Inc.) on grounds of contributory and vicarious copyright infringement under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).^[15] Napster was faced with the following allegations from the music industry:

1. That its users were directly violating the plaintiffs' copyrights.
2. That Napster was responsible for contributory infringement of the plaintiff's copyrights.
3. That Napster was responsible for the vicarious infringement of the plaintiff's copyrights.

Napster lost the case in the District Court but then appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Although it was clear that Napster could have commercially significant non-infringing uses, the Ninth Circuit upheld the District Court's decision. Immediately after, the District Court commanded Napster to keep track of the activities of its network and to restrict access to infringing material when informed of that material's location. Napster wasn't able to comply and thus had to close down its service in July 2001. In 2002, Napster announced that it had filed for bankruptcy and sold its assets to a third party.^[16] In a 2018 Rolling Stone article, Kirk Hammett of Metallica upheld the band's opinion that suing Napster was the "right" thing to do.^[17]

Promotional power

Along with the accusations that Napster was hurting the sales of the record industry, some felt just the opposite, that file trading on Napster stimulated, rather than hurt, sales. Some evidence 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 album's release. Unlike Madonna, Dr. Dre, or Metallica, Radiohead had never hit the top 20 in the US. Furthermore, Kid A was an album without any singles released, and received relatively little radio airplay. By the time of the album'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. According to Richard Menta of MP3 Newswire,^[18] 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 suggested that Napster was a good promotional tool for music.

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. One such musician to publicly defend Napster as a promotional tool for independent artists was DJ Xealot, who became directly involved in the 2000 A&M Records Lawsuit.^[19] Chuck D from Public Enemy also came out and publicly supported Napster.^[20]

Lawsuit

Napster's facilitation of the transfer of copyrighted material raised the ire of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which almost immediately—on December 6, 1999—filed a lawsuit against the popular service.^[21] 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 whom were 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.^[22]

Lawrence Lessig^[23] claimed, however, that this decision made little sense from the perspective of copyright protection: "When Napster told the district court that it had developed a technology to block the transfer of 99.4 percent of identified infringing material, the district court told counsel for Napster 99.4 percent was not good enough. Napster had to push the infringements 'down to zero.' If 99.4 percent is not good enough," Lessig concluded, "then this is a war on file-sharing technologies, not a war on copyright infringement."

Shutdown

On July 11, 2001, Napster shut down its entire network to comply with the injunction. On September 24, 2001, the case was partially settled. Napster agreed to pay music creators and copyright owners a $26 million settlement for past, unauthorized uses of music, and as an advance against future licensing royalties of $10 million. To pay those fees, Napster attempted to convert its free service into a subscription system, and thus traffic to Napster was reduced. A prototype solution was tested in 2002: the Napster 3.0 Alpha, using the ".nap" secure file format from PlayMedia Systems^[24] 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 to transform Napster into an online music subscription service. The two companies had been collaborating since the middle of 2000^[25] when Bertelsmann became the first major label to drop its copyright lawsuit against Napster.^[26] Pursuant to the terms of the acquisition agreement, on June 3 Napster filed for Chapter 11 protection under United States bankruptcy laws. On September 3, 2002, an American bankruptcy judge blocked the sale to Bertelsmann and forced Napster to liquidate its assets.

Reuse of name

See main article: Napster (streaming music service). Napster's brand and logos were acquired at a bankruptcy auction by Roxio which used them to re-brand the Pressplay music service as Napster 2.0. In September 2008, Napster was purchased by US electronics retailer Best Buy for US $121 million.^[27] On December 1, 2011, pursuant to a deal with Best Buy, Napster merged with Rhapsody, with Best Buy receiving a minority stake in Rhapsody.^[28] On July 14, 2016, Rhapsody phased out the Rhapsody brand in favor of Napster and has since branded its service internationally as Napster^[29] and expanded toward other markets by providing music on-demand as a service to other brands^[30] like the iHeartRadio app and their All Access music subscription service that provides subscribers with an on-demand music experience as well as premium radio.^[31]

On August 25, 2020, Napster was sold to virtual reality concerts company MelodyVR.^[32]

On May 10, 2022, Napster was sold to Hivemind and Algorand. The investor consortium also includes ATC Management, BH Digital, G20 Ventures, SkyBridge, RSE Ventures, Arrington Capital, Borderless Capital, and others.^{[33] [34]}

Media

• There have been several books that document the experiences of people working at Napster, including:
  • Joseph Menn's "All the Rave: The Rise and Fall of Shawn Fanning's Napster"^[35]
  • John Alderman's "Sonic Boom: Napster, MP3, and the New Pioneers of Music"^[36]
  • Steve Knopper's "Appetite for Self Destruction: The Spectacular Crash of the Record Industry in the Digital Age."^[37]
• The 2003 film The Italian Job features Napster co-founder Shawn Fanning as a cameo of himself. This gave credence to one of the characters fictional back-story as the original "Napster".^[38]
• The 2010 film The Social Network features Napster co-founder Sean Parker (played by Justin Timberlake) in the rise of the popular website Facebook.^[39]
• The 2013 film Downloaded is a documentary about sharing media on the Internet and includes the history of Napster.
• The 2024 film How Music Got Free, a documentary based on the non-fiction book How Music Got Free mentions file sharing on the Internet with mentions of Napster and other applications.

Further reading

• Carlsson . Bengt . Gustavsson . Rune . 2001 . The Rise and Fall of Napster – An Evolutionary Approach . Proceedings of the 6th International Computer Science Conference on Active Media Technology .
• Giesler . Markus . Pohlmann . Mali . 2003 . The Social Form of Napster: Cultivating the Paradox of Consumer Emancipation . Advances in Consumer Research .
• Giesler . Markus . Pohlmann . Mali . 2003 . The Anthropology of File Sharing: Consuming Napster as a Gift . Advances in Consumer Research .
• 10.1086/506309 . Consumer Gift Systems . 2006 . Giesler . Markus . Journal of Consumer Research . 33 . 2 . 283–290. 144952559 .
• 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 . 266964 . 10.2139/ssrn.266964 . 2001 .
• McCourt . Tom . 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 . 10.1177/0163443703025003003 . 153739320 .
• Orbach . Barak . Indirect Free Riding on the Wheels of Commerce: Dual-Use Technologies and Copyright Liability . 2008 . Emory Law Journal . 57 . 409–461 . 965720 .
• Book: Abramson, Bruce. Digital Phoenix; Why the Information Economy Collapsed and How it Will Rise Again. registration. 2005. MIT Press. 978-0-262-51196-4.
• Judge criticises both parties in Napster case
• "The File Sharing Movement" in Jack Goldsmith and Tim Wu, Who Controls the Internet: Illusions of a Borderless World Oxford University Press, 2006, pp. 105–125.

External links

• Official website in 2011 on archive.org
• Official website in 2022

Notes and References

1. Web site: Sisario . Ben . 2011-10-03 . Rhapsody to Acquire Napster in Deal With Best Buy . 2013-06-13 . Mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com . United States . 2013-04-27 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130427052400/http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/03/rhapsody-to-acquire-napster-in-deal-with-best-buy/ . live .
2. Web site: Vincent . James . 2022-05-18 . Napster joins Limewire and Winamp by jumping on the web3 bandwagon . 2024-02-07 . The Verge . en.
3. Name inspired by Shawn's high school nickname "Nappy" for his signature afro.
   • Pollack . Neal . Spotify Is the Coolest Music Service You Can't Use . Wired . December 27, 2010 . December 7, 2019 . March 6, 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140306141723/http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/12/mf_spotify/ . live .
   • Simon, Dan. Internet pioneer Sean Parker: 'I'm blazing a new path' . CNN. September 27, 2011.
   • Book: Menn, Joseph . All the Rave: The Rise and Fall of Shawn Fanning's Napster . Crown Business . 2003 . 978-0-609-61093-0 . registration .
   • Schonfeld, Erick. Shawn Fanning And Sean Parker Talk About Airtime And "Smashing People Together" . TechCrunch. October 6, 2011.
   • News: Rosen . Ellen . Student's Start-Up Draws Attention and $13 Million . The New York Times . May 26, 2005 . February 19, 2017 . May 29, 2005 . https://web.archive.org/web/20050529030744/http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/26/business/26sbiz.html . live .
   • Bradshaw, Tim. Spotify-MOG battle heats up . Financial Times. February 28, 2010.
   • Emerson, Ramona. Sean Parker At Web 2.0 Summit Defends 'Creepy' Facebook . The Huffington Post. October 18, 2011.
   • Kirkpatrick, David. With a Little Help From His Friends. Vanity Fair. July 1, 2011. October 2010. June 28, 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20110628071313/http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2010/10/sean-parker-201010?currentPage=all. live.
4. News: Napster's High and Low Notes . Businessweek . August 14, 2000 . 2019-12-07 . 2019-12-07 . https://web.archive.org/web/20191207132205/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2000-08-14/napsters-high-and-low-notes . live .
5. • 10.1086/506309 . Consumer Gift Systems . 2006 . Giesler . Markus . Journal of Consumer Research . 33 . 2 . 283–290. 144952559 .
6. News: Evangelista . Benny . Napster runs out of lives – judge rules against sale . September 4, 2002 . October 18, 2011 . San Francisco Chronicle . March 9, 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210309222141/https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Napster-runs-out-of-lives-judge-rules-against-2774278.php . live .
7. Web site: Requiem for Napster . Pcworld.com . 2002-05-18 . 2013-06-13 . Gowan . Michael . 2014-04-26 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140426235542/http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/article/22380/requiem_napster/ . live .
8. News: The Napster Nightmare . ISP-Planet . March 13, 2000 . Fusco . Patricia . https://web.archive.org/web/20111019152028/http://www.isp-planet.com/politics/napster.html . 2011-10-19.
9. News: Napster expelled by universities . BBC News . September 26, 2000 . Anderson . Kevin . https://web.archive.org/web/20071021085514/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/942090.stm . 2007-10-21.
10. Web site: Official Napster Client For Mac OS, OS X -- The Mac Observer. macobserver.com. 2020-04-15. 2020-08-09. https://web.archive.org/web/20200809055433/https://www.macobserver.com/article/2000/10/25.2.shtml. live.
11. Web site: Eight MP3 Players For The Macintosh . Applelinks . April 26, 2014 . Moore, Charles W. . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20131112184840/http://www.applelinks.com/mooresviews/players.shtml . November 12, 2013 . mdy-all .
12. 10.1086/522098 . Conflict and Compromise: Drama in Marketplace Evolution . 2008 . Giesler . Markus . Journal of Consumer Research . 34 . 6 . 739–753 . 10.1.1.564.7146 . 145796529 . 2017-10-25 . 2008-07-24 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080724001917/http://visionarymarketing.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/giesler2007jcr.pdf . dead .
13. News: Unreleased Madonna Single Slips On To Net . CNET News.com . June 1, 2000 . Borland . John . https://archive.today/20120628232111/http://news.cnet.com/2100-1023-241341.html . June 28, 2012 . dead . mdy-all .
14. Global Napster Usage Plummets, But new File-Sharing Alternatives Gaining Ground, Reports Jupiter Media Metrix . comScore . 2001-07-20 . April 26, 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080413104420/http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?id=249 . 2008-04-13.
15. 17 U.S.C. A&M Records. Inc. v. Napster. Inc. 114 F. Supp. 2d 896 (N. D. Cal. 2000).
16. .A&M Records, Inc. v. Napster, Inc., 239 F.3d 1004 (9th Cir. 2001). For a summary and analysis, see Guy Douglas, Copyright and Peer-To-Peer Music File Sharing: The Napster Case and the Argument Against Legislative Reform
17. Metallica's Kirk Hammett: 'We're Still Right' About Suing Napster . Rolling Stone . 16 October 2019 . 2018-05-14 . 2019-10-16 . https://web.archive.org/web/20191016190119/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/metallicas-kirk-hammett-were-still-right-about-suing-napster-630185/ . live .
18. News: Menta . Richard . Did Napster Take Radiohead's New Album to Number 1? . October 28, 2000 . MP3 Newswire . January 21, 2005 . January 4, 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180104132519/http://www.mp3newswire.net/stories/2000/radiohead.html . dead .
19. Web site: Case Nos. C 99-5183 and C 00-0074 MHP (ADR) . . February 12, 2009 . February 14, 2006 . https://web.archive.org/web/20060214000323/http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/napster/napster/dec_xeal.pdf . live .
20. News: Rapper Chuck D throws weight behind Napster . May 1, 2000 . Cnet News . February 17, 2009 . July 11, 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120711140750/http://news.cnet.com/2100-1023-239917.html . live .
21. • A&M Records, Inc. v. Napster, Inc., 114 F. Supp. 2d 896 (N.D. Cal. 2000), aff'd in part, rev'd in part, 239 F.3d 1004 (9th Cir. 2001)
    • News: Menta . Richard . RIAA Sues Music Startup Napster for $20 Billion . December 9, 1999 . MP3 Newswire . April 29, 2005 . December 12, 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20171212042457/http://www.mp3newswire.net/stories/napster.html . live .
22. 2001 US Dist. LEXIS 2186 (N.D. Cal. Mar. 5, 2001), aff’d, 284 F. 3d 1091 (9th Cir. 2002).
23. Book: Lessig, Lawrence . Lawrence Lessig. Free Culture: The Nature and Future of Creativity. 2004 . Penguin. 978-0-14-303465-0 . 73–74 .
24. Web site: Napster to ditch MP3 for proprietary format. theregister.co.uk. 2017-08-10. 2017-08-10. https://web.archive.org/web/20170810142519/https://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/07/23/napster_to_ditch_mp3/. live.
25. Web site: Bertelsmann to buy Napster for a song. CNET. 2016-02-29. 2016-03-10. https://web.archive.org/web/20160310055815/http://www.cnet.com/news/bertelsmann-to-buy-napster-for-a-song/. live.
26. News: Napster wins a new friend. Teather. David. 2000-11-01. The Guardian. en-GB. 0261-3077. 2016-02-29. 2016-03-05. https://web.archive.org/web/20160305135358/http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2000/nov/01/internetnews.business. live.
27. Web site: Best Buy nabs Napster for $121 million. Skillings. September 15, 2008. CNET. cnet.com. January 4, 2016. April 20, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160420040827/http://www.cnet.com/news/best-buy-nabs-napster-for-121-million/. live.
28. News: Today is Napster's last day of existence . CNN . November 30, 2011 . August 3, 2020 . September 18, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200918104858/https://money.cnn.com/2011/11/30/technology/napster_rhapsody/?source=cnn_bin . live .
29. News: We Are Napster . Napster Team . July 14, 2016 . July 15, 2016 . July 17, 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160717135243/http://blog.napster.com/2016/07/14/wearenapster . live .
30. Web site: Services Napster. Napster. 2018-03-27. 2018-03-27. https://web.archive.org/web/20180327144959/https://business.napster.com/services. live.
31. Web site: Press Releases. www.iheartmedia.com. en. 2018-03-27. 2018-03-27. https://web.archive.org/web/20180327212242/https://www.iheartmedia.com/press/iheartmedia-officially-launches-its-interactive-demand-radio-services-iheartradio-plus-and. live.
32. 2020-08-25. Napster Sold to Virtual Reality Concert App MelodyVR for $70 Million. 2020-08-26. Billboard. 2020-08-26. https://web.archive.org/web/20200826023301/https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/9439418/napster-melodyvr-sale-price-details. live.
33. 2022-05-10. Hivemind and Algorand today announced the acquisition of Napster, to once again revolutionize the music industry by bringing blockchain and Web3 to artists and fans.. 2022-05-10. Linkedin. 2022-05-28. https://web.archive.org/web/20220528040647/https://www.linkedin.com/posts/napster_hivemind-and-algorand-today-announced-the-activity-6929792306673815553-bbeZ. live.
34. 2022-05-10. Breaking: @HivemindCap and @Algorand today announced the acquisition of @Napster, to once again revolutionize the music industry by bringing blockchain and Web3 to artists and fans. Music industry veteran Emmy Lovell has been named interim CEO.. 2022-05-10. Twitter. 2022-05-10. https://web.archive.org/web/20220510140950/https://twitter.com/HivemindCap/status/1524027670941556739. live.
35. News: 0609610937 . All the Rave: The Rise and Fall of Shawn Fanning's Napster. Menn. Joseph. 2003. Crown Business.
36. Book: John Alderman . Sonic boom: Napster, MP3, and the new pioneers of music . registration . January 29, 2011 . August 8, 2001 . Perseus Pub. . 978-0-7382-0405-5.
37. http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2009/jan/02/napster-wounds-the-giant/ Napster wounds the giant : Music
38. Web site: Information Security News: Napster founder has cameo role in 'Italian Job'. seclists.org. 2018-03-27. 2018-03-27. https://web.archive.org/web/20180327212141/http://seclists.org/isn/2003/Jun/46. live.
39. Kirkpatrick, David. With a Little Help From His Friends . Vanity Fair. October 2010.