Twenty-five years ago, a generation of college students hit the jackpot when it came to music. They moved to college dormitories with ethernet connections just as Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker launched Napster, the first mainstream peer-to-peer file-sharing service. Or, in the view of the recording industry, 25 years ago, a generation of college students became online pirates. Learn all about it in this edition of Tech Time Warp.
Napster vs. RIAA
On Dec. 7, 1999, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) sued Napster, alleging copyright infringement and multimillion theft from record labels. The lawsuit sought $100,000 in damages for each copyrighted song shared on the service, totaling an estimated $100 million. In the short term, the lawsuit drew more attention to Napster and increased its user base, growing to a verified 26.4 million users by June 2001. However, the RIAA lawsuit opened the floodgates to more litigation, with Metallica suing Napster along with several universities, including the University of Southern California and Yale University, alleging copyright infringement.
The beleaguered Napster, drowning in legal bills, filed for bankruptcy in June 2002. German media group Bertelsmann purchased Napster’s assets, and RIAA went after Bertelsmann for damages. Bertelsmann made several multimillion-dollar settlements, including a significant $130 million settlement in August 2007 with the National Music Publishers Association. This settlement addressed copyright infringement issues related to Napster’s file-sharing practices. RIAA went on to sue other file-sharing companies—Kazaa and Limewire, for example—as well as some individual users.
However, while RIAA shut down the widespread use of “free” peer-to-peer file-sharing sites, it didn’t stop a sea change in the music industry. Napster opened consumers’ minds to the convenience of streaming content, which, 25 years later, is the dominant form of music consumption. And the recording industry had to adapt its revenue streams accordingly. RIAA is currently advocating for the NO FAKES Act, federal legislation that seeks to protect artists’ likenesses and voices from unauthorized artificial intelligence use. One has to wonder where the AI situation will stand in 25 years.
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Photo: Ralf Liebhold / Shutterstock
