IP: Bertelsmann und Napster -- Is this Netscape or The Sex Pistols?

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

> From: "Rob Raisch" <info () raisch com>
> To: "Dave Farber" <farber () cis upenn edu>
> Subject: IP: Bertelsmann und Napster -- Is this Netscape or The Sex Pistols?
> Date: Fri, 3 Nov 2000 17:24:18 -0500
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>
> (As usual, NTK is bang-on.  How to commercialize the chaos of Napster
> without losing its fans?  Any control imposed on its culture will destroy
> what value it might contain.  /rr)
>
> From Need To Know - *the* weekly high-tech sarcastic update for the uk
> http://www.ntk.net/
>
>          So the healing power of *music* has at last mended the rift
>          between NAPSTER and BERTELSMANN AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT - and, at
>          the moment, is even enabling them to overlook their
>          glaringly fundamental incompatibilities. The whole point of
>          a peer-to- peer system is that anyone can swap any file with
>          anyone else - if BMG are going to restrict it to certain
>          approved promo tracks, or run compensatory payment tracking
>          for every file on the system (which'd be fun for bands who
>          are signed to different labels in different territories),
>          they might as well do it with a few industrial strength
>          ftp-sites. And if they don't, they continue to run the risk
>          of copyright actions from, ooh - off the top of our heads,
>          every other record company in the world. And even if the Nap
>          magically chases the *bad* files out of its walled garden,
>          won't the action move to more staid (and more heartily
>          defended) "Napster for workgroups" projects like .NET and
>          Groove? BMG don't seem to have the faintest inkling of how
>          intimately P2P and piracy are interlinked - but, hey,
>          they're a major label, and therefore their job is to waste
>          huge amounts of money on what the kids seem to like. Also,
>          it'll be far funnier to watch, if the Napster/ BMG deal
>          turns out less like AOL buying Netscape, and more like the
>          Sex Pistols signing to EMI.
>          http://www.bertelsmann.com/press/press_item.cfm?id=2461
> "Hey kids, swap legally approved tracks among yourselves! It'll be groovy!"
>
> --
> "We forbid any course that says we restrict free speech."
> Kathleen Dixon, Director, Dept of Women's Studies
> Bowling Green State University