Feelings on Napster?

An eloquent response. It is indeed a complex issue. My personal opinion (and it changes weekly) is that most people assume that artists act out of profit motive and are therefore inspired to create-- Take away their control and they will be less inclined to produce. All of the artists that I know, including myself, do not act out of a profit based motive, but rather a basic need to be creative. This is the essence of being an artist. The artist creates for the greater good. Thus, I think the control of artistic products is less an issue of the artist and more an issue of the industry that has built up around the artists. I think a real argument can be made that rampant capitalism has in fact degraded music, suppressing that which is less "marketable" and promoting the tastes of the "masses." It has created an appetite for the mediocre. Certainly, artists do need to be able to make a living, but do they and their record lables need millions upon millions? I don't cry for the likes of Metallica...certainly some of the profit oriented folks may drop out, but I don't think that it is necessarily a bad thing if we trim off some of the pork at this point in time. And start with N'Sync.

I see this as a much less complex issue than the posters above. If you download music, listen to it, and do not pay the artist or distributor for doing it you are a thief. This idea that this is all a creative activity and all humans have a right to share in it is absurd. Music is an intangible that results from persons creativity and hard work and they need to be paid for it. Would you download a document, image, or software program that was clearly owned by a party and not in the public domain that was intended for commercial sale and claim you had a right to it? would you steal a patented product design or novel and download it and consider it ethical? If so, you are a thief. Napster is much more involved in facilitating this crime (theft) than a money launderer, a pimp, or the owner of a crack house. All of these people are criminals and the owners of Napster are too.

Hmmm. I never thought of myself as a thief before. But maybe I'm wrong there. You obviously take the hardline capitalist viewpoint that all art is also a commodity and therefore should be regulated. I agree to maintaining an artists right to make money on his art should he wish. There is also a point to which the urge to control and make money begins to affect the quantity and diversity of non commercial art. No doubt that something created to reflect a person's/group's perspective and a product meant to appeal to masses of people will probably look very different. Just look at Hollywood, every film with the same proven formula. Not by chance for sure. Thus there is a need for a forum to give wider access to music and art, beyond the control of labels, corporations, etc. The internet is this media. To control Napster would set a precedent to control all the Internet, turning it into one giant business forum. The answer is somewhere in between. But surely you must see that there is more to the question than just "property rights." If not, oh well...By the way, it's not illegal to use Napster...so I'm not a thief yet.

I think that we all knew the court order (today) would happen, and it seems to me that Napster will eventually have to pay some kind of royalties, whether the music is coming "from them", or whether it comes from their "users". Either way, the so-called "free sharing of music" will not be allowed to go on by the RIAA, someone will have to pay something for what gets exchanged there, because it is all too easy for the music industry's primary "youth market" to get a bunch of music that they deem "as good as CD" for free, and how can that not affect profit margins? If they really like it as good (and usually they like it BETTER than CD), and they get it for free, WHY WOULD THEY PAY FULL RETAIL FOR A CD? THEY WOULDN'T, AND THEY DON'T. Interview a bunch of 14 or 15 year olds, and ask them how much of their music is bought on CD, and then ask how much did they get for free off the net. This is a no-brainer.........Yes, I've heard Napster's claims that more adults use them, than teenagers, but THERE'S NO WAY THIS HOLDS WATER EITHER....think about it. The bul (like 90%) of the music industry's income is youth driven, this cannot be denied or refuted.

This issue is not all that far beyond my youth, when eager young people would wait for their favorite song to be played by the "hottest" radio station, and they would record it to tape. I realize that with Napster this goes to a new art, being able to pick and choose the song and when you get to copy it. I am not sure the concept is any different though. Just for the record, I am neither for or against any of you availing yourself of the content of this new media. I, for one have never downloaded a single item from Napster. But then again, I never recorded a single song from the radio either, I simply went out and bought what I liked, after I heard it. Difficult to know what is right, for the consumer and the industry.