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Show HINCKLEY JOURNAL OF POLITICS 2002/2003 not to mention the thousands of dollars that are spent in the recording and producing stages of an album 14was simply put on an Internet site for anyone to download onto their computer for free. "It's like each [Napster user] won one of those contests where you get turned loose in a store for five minutes and get to keep everything you can load into your shopping cart.. .except there's no time limit and everyone who owns a computer is a winner. If you're not fortunate enough to own a computer, there's only one way to assemble a music collection the equivalent of a Napster user's: theft" (Ulrich 2000, 1). Artists such as Ulrich spoke out with such poignant arguments that Senator Orrin Hatch and the Judiciary Committee, among others, questioned whether Napster was ripping artists off and if something needed to be done to stop it. The music recording industry is a multi-billion dollar a year enterprise and it has a lot to lose if people stop buying CDs because they can download them for free. It is a legitimate concern. Music is not only a form of expression and art, but it is the product of artists' work and their source of supporting themselves. The question that arises is whether technologies such as Napster are really inhibiting popular artists such as Metallica. Similar to the VCR case discussed earlier, Congress was leery of taking any actions to inhibit Napster or similar technologies, because previously the market worked out the problems without government intervention, and the concerned parties benefited significantly from the technology they were trying to stop. While many in the industry expressed concerns similar to Ulrich's, other artists gave a surprisingly overwhelming positive response to Napster. Napster gave beneficial exposure for independent artists who chose not to sign on with a label or who were not given that opportunity. Even big name stars stood up for Napster. Their underlying philosophy is similar to that of the Grateful Dead's, who welcomed bootleggers into their concerts in the 1980s. The fear in the industry at the time was that if you let people record your shows, then they wouldn't buy your albums or buy tickets to your concerts because they had free access to the music. The opposite proved true. Both recorded sales and ticket sales for the Grateful Dead increased dramatically. The tapes of the shows floating around gave the band exposure all over the world, and all of this happened with very little radio time or corporate promotions. The band argued that their music was there to be heard, so let the people hear it. "If you give something to your audience, it always seems to come back somehow" (Napster, 200la). Peter Breinholt, a favorite local artist in Utah, agrees. He is an independent artist who pays for his CDs to be made, finds people to sell them, designs his CD covers, books the concert halls, and takes out his own ads in the newspaper to promote what he is doing. He is very popular throughout the state, but he cannot get radio play time. Since this is where people have traditionally been introduced to new music, he has had to find alternative ways of exposing his work. He has found that if he does an occasional free concert, CD sales increase dramatically. "Peer-to-peer technology is sort of like a high-tech version of students playing my CDs in their cars for friends," he says (Breinholt 2000, 2). Napster has been great for artists such as Breinholt who have seen increased exposure of their work on sites such as Napster. Napster sought to help lesser-known artists by providing several methods to help people discover new kinds of music. One was Napster Discover, which spotlighted new up and coming artists. The New Artist Program allowed people to type in the kind of music they like and have lists of artists who fall into that category come up. A Featured Music section on the home page allowed for those lesser-knowns to get a big break. Chuck D stated, "We should think of Napster as a new kind of radio 14a promotional tool that can help artists who don't have the opportunity to get their music played on mainstream radio or on MTV" (Napster, 200la). It is surprising how many big name superstars spoke out in support of Napster, including Madonna, Prince, and Bono from U2. There is no doubt that these performers are not hurting for exposure, and yet they supported the idea of people coming together and sharing their music over the net for free. They saw it as a way to expand their popularity even further, especially in international markets. Bono stated, "I think it's cool for people to share our music 14 as long as no one is making money from the process" (Napster, 200la). Courtney Love from Hole said, "There were one billion downloads last year but music sales are way up, so how is Napster hurting the music industry? It's not. The only people who are afraid of Napster are the ones who have filler on their albums and are scared that if people hear more than one single they're not going to buy the album" (Napster, 200la). Napster forced accountability in the music industry in a way that has not been paralleled. New artists' music was being heard and consumers had more say in what they were, and were not, willing to buy. Most artists felt that as long as their albums continue to sell and people continue paying money to go to their concerts, Napster should be allowed to thrive. Even lan MacKaye, co-owner of Dischord Records said, "Most people I know who use Napster listen to stuff they've never heard before. And then they get psyched and go out and buy the damn records. What's wrong with that?" (Napster.com, 2001a) CONGRESS, THE COURTS, AND NAPSTER As the developer of peer-to-peer technology, Napster was a primary target for legislative action, or relief through the judiciary. In Congress Napster was very vocal, as members considered such legislation as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and the Digital Performance Right in Sound Recordings Act. The goal of Senator Hatch and others on the Judiciary Committee was to balance innovation and new business opportunities on the Internet, while ensuring that laws and rights are not violated in the process. No legislation was enacted which effectively shut Napster down. However the 61 |