Trey Anastasio (Phish) on Napster.

May 18, 2000 1:04 PM

Trey Anastasio (Phish) on Napster. I know we're all kind of sick of this now. The interesting thing is that I got an MP3 of "Heavy Things" (which is on their new album) this morning from Napster, listened 3 times and then called my local HMV to see if they had the album in yet. They did, and I'm off to buy it. (Feeling legit? You can get Liquid Audio versions of two cuts from the new album, including the one mentioned.)
posted by sylloge (5 comments total)

Aside: rec.music.phish is what got me to move my very first packets back in 91-92. So Phish got me on the internet almost 9 years ago. Back then we'd use usenet/email to get physical addresses, dub magnetic tapes and mail the crappy nth generation dupes in padded envelopes, usually taking over two weeks to complete a trade. Now, I can get most any show about a week after it happens, straight from DAT to MP3. (This is not only allowed, but openly supported by Phish, as it has been for more than 10 years.)
posted by sylloge at 1:13 PM on May 18, 2000

*My* question is, where in the hell did he get *this*:

We let people trade tapes, and even when MP3 came along, there were no problems: People can
put their MP3 files up on the net as long as there's no advertising and nobody's making money off
it. Which is not the case with Napster, because people are making a lot of money through
corporate sponsorship and stuff.

Huh? Corporate Sponsorship? Napster?

COULDN'T *SOMEONE* JUST PLEASE GET *SOMETHING* RIGHT FOR A CHANGE? HUH??
posted by baylink at 1:35 PM on May 18, 2000

I think he meant to say "Which is not the case with Napster, because people are losing a lot of money through hardware, salaries and legal fees."

But you know what — Napster does intend to make money someday . . . (Anyway, you'll note that later on the interview he recants and admits that he likes the idea of Napster and empowering the listeners.)
posted by sylloge at 2:11 PM on May 18, 2000

Well, there's this on the bottom of every page.

Copyright 1999-2000 Napster, Inc.

The Inc. means incorporated. Being the stock phobic person that I am, I'm not sure if Napster's gone public yet. If they haven't, I'm sure they plan to. Who throws all their money at IPO stocks . . . other corporations or college kids in dorm rooms on T3 lines?

Then there's this from Napster's company page.

If you are interested in advertising with Napster, please email to [e-mail].

They aren't (or weren't a few months ago; I haven't used it in a while) putting ads into Napster yet, but it sure looks like they're getting ready to. The do seem to run ads on their home, although it might be more of a partnership with Rapstation because that's the only ad I've seen. Either way, Rapstation's a commercial venture.

No, there isn't any blatent commercialism involved, but it's still there. Mr. Anastasio seems a bit uncomfortable that his (and other artists) music is being used to create and sustain a corporation. I'm venture a guess that he'd be a bit less uncomfortable with projects like Gnutella.
posted by alan at 2:53 PM on May 18, 2000

I must stick with my beta! download reserve installations people! this is icq 2000 all over again!
I need to know what the story on napster is and how it will turn out, I want to buy an mp3 player...on that note, does anyone know how good a Lyra is? and not the harp, the mp3 player
posted by starduck at 5:01 PM on May 18, 2000