Napster, the file sharing application that allows for thousands of college students to steal copyrighted commercially available music via the Internet, has been under fire for most of 2001. This summer, Napster, once the media darling of the dot-com boom and the free software cult, was publicly vilified and successfully sued for copyright infringement by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Napster was effectively found guilty of innumerable copyright violations and was ordered to shut down their servers.

The Internet file-sharing technology behind Napster is a good idea that is really only possible now that broadband technology and easily connected PCs are available to the public. It works like this: The company called Napster maintains server farms that contain a central database for client computers to access. The client application used to access this database (confusingly also referred to as ÒNapsterÓ) is installed on PCs or Macs that want to share files with other clients. If I install the Napster client on my computer and you install the Napster client on your computer, we can now ÒseeÓ each otherÕs computers on the Internet. NapsterÕs client software automatically ÒsharesÓ any MP3-format music files (with some know-how you can share any other specified file type) on our hard drives, so that we can share/trade/swap any of our MP3Õs. The Napster servers check our hard drivesÕ shared contents and creates database entries for our MP3Õs for other Napster clients. This file sharing is done free of charge. Napster does not charge any kind of fee for using their service ø you download it, install it and share music free of charge on the Internet.

ItÕs pretty easy to see why the RIAA would be furious with Napster. The RIAA represents the people that create, market, distribute and sell recorded music. Napster basically puts them out of business. Why spend $15 (US) on a music CD when you can go on Napster and find the entire CD on someoneÕs hard drive for free? Download those MP3Õs on your hard drive and burn a CD of those MP3Õs with your CD-Recorder (CD-R) drive. You just saved fifteen bucks that coincidently is the going rate for a 20-pack of CD-R media. Yo, P-Diddy and J-Lo gots mad loot, ya know what IÕm sayinÕ? They wonÕt miss one CD sale from me, right?

Of course, pop starÕs salaries may seem larger than life from their outrageous videos on MTV, but the shocker is that these people donÕt make that much money from CD sales. The people that make money on music CDs are the record companies. Most artists make money by touring and by merchandise sales. Only the top tier stars have multi-record/multi-million dollar recording contracts. If you get a million dollars from Atlantic Records to record an album, it doesnÕt mean youÕre a millionaire. That million bucks means youÕve got to book studio time and to hire a producer, sound engineer and musicians. You also have to buy drugs, booze and to pay for all the stuff that you tear up while recording that album for Atlantic. If you burn through your million bucks before your album is done, Atlantic will let you borrow money against the sales of your album and they havenÕt spent a dime yet on promoting and duplicating the album yet. One record exec said that all these expenses mean that artists have to sell AT LEAST one million copies to be marginally profitable now. Napster effectively ruins the Òsell one million copiesÓ benchmark, because one record buyer can (and will) share that CD on the Internet with millions of Napster users.

Strangely, tech news outlets reported on Monday that a group called the Recording Artists Coalition filed an Amicus (friend of the court) Brief supporting Napster. It always seemed silly for the artists to oppose Napster anyway. Most songs by pop and rock groups for the past 35 years, from the Beatles to Pearl Jam, drone on about how money is evil. IÕve consistently heard from Sting and other sensitive music artists that their wealth is unimportant, and they would gladly play music for free. By filing this Amicus Brief, have the recording artists finally decided to practice what they preach?

No, absolutely not. The RAC is actually a group of artists like limousine leftist Don Henley, the pious former Eagle who definitely is in it for the money. Henley and others in the RAC have allied with the Òenemy of my enemy,Ó Napster, against their hated foe the RIAA. Henley and other artists like him are less concerned about the freedom to share music over the Internet than they are about their own finances. As the copyright laws read now, the employer owns any Òwork for hireÓ copyright. Since most artists in the RAC signed contracts specifying that their songs are Òworks for hireÓ for their record company, they do not own the rights to many of their big hits. If Don canÕt get the full rights for his songs, he canÕt sell ÒThe Boys of SummerÓ for car commercials and baseball teams without paying the record companies first.

Henley says he owns his songs - end of story. So, if I am an engineer for AMD and I invent a highly efficient cooling apparatus for Athlon XP processors, AMD owns my Òwork for hire.Ó Would Don Henley think that IÕm being taken advantage of and fight for me to own that cooler? ShouldnÕt I own the rights to my cooler even though AMD pays me a salary, stock options, bonuses and paid for filing all the paperwork for my invention with the government? Get real! Don Henley wants more money and feels that Napster, if owned by someone like him rather than big corporate record companies, is the way to get it.

The bottom line is that Napster, in its current form is still illegal and will stay shut down forever. Although the technology was a great idea, it was misused and abused. If file sharing technology is to have a future in large-scale business enterprises, those pushing for its use should make sure to distance themselves from the failure of Napster. Indications are that Napster-like file sharing technology will evolve into a secure and inexpensive method for getting information across the Internet, but I doubt the R&D money to accomplish that will come from Don Henley and his lawyers.

Want to defend the illegality of Napster while cowering behind the First Amendment? Email me scott@worldtechtribune.com.
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