June 13, 2000

2:12 PM

Ban users? Ban more users? Next step? ban Napster
posted by tiaka (10 comments total)

Or ban mp3.com. Or ban buying any music from companies that support RIAA. It goes both ways. There is zero evidence to support that sales for CDs have dropped since the invention of Napster. If anything, Napster, mp3.com, riffage, winamp and other websites and programs have increased interest in music. It all goes back to control. RIAA has no control over what people are paying attention to and what they're told to buy. They aren't listening to the obnoxious commercials anymore. They're deciding for themselves. RIAA can't stand that.

I just dread the day when Billy Joel weighs in on this. I've loved his music for over twenty years but if he sides with Metallica, Thomas Dolby and Elton John *shrug* he won't be my piano man no more.

That's okay though. The Argument is a decent pacifier for Billy Joel Withdrawal.
posted by ZachsMind at 3:51 PM on June 13, 2000

What? Thomas "Blinded Me With Science" Dolby sided with Metallica? When did this happen? Where's his statement? Dang it, Zach, I'm not going to believe it until I see it for myself!!!

Speaking of Billy Joel,
Give a moment or two to the angry young man
With his feet on the ground and his head in the sand...
Great piano, great lyric, I'll forgive him anything and everything for that song...
posted by wendell at 4:48 PM on June 13, 2000

Im hoping the bands I like will keep their mouthes shut about napster... Im all for taking the piss out of Metallica, but im not sure I have enough conviction to side against someone I actually listen to...
posted by esquilax at 4:49 PM on June 13, 2000

I'm personally worried about Beck. If Beck weighed in on the anti-MP3 side of the fence I'd be disheartened for days.
posted by jbushnell at 5:40 PM on June 13, 2000

It's a matter of time until these guys are bought out by a mega-media-conglomo and sell this shit back to us. So for me, I've abandoned Napster and moved on the the newsgroups. That's where the good stuff is anyway.
posted by Dean_Paxton at 6:35 PM on June 13, 2000

you know if we had those 'music kiosks' like they have in japan, except with MP3s, the RIAA would be all for mp3. I really wish these big record companies would stop trying to make us listen to stuff they want us to listen to and nothing else! i think napster is a great way to find out about new bands, and get to know bands i already like even better...
posted by y0bhgu0d at 7:42 PM on June 13, 2000

Jesus. When it comes to the law, it doesn't matter if Napster has hurt sales -- people downloading copyrighted music for free is illegal. Whether Napster is directly, legally responsible for this is for a court to decide; the notion that the lack of a direct link between [N|gn|wr|*]apster and decreased music sales justifies stealing the works of artists, though, even in part, is just total crap.

I don't think anyone will deny that Napster and it's ilk have done some good things for some bands, and possibly for the majority of bands. But if a band wishes to enforce their legal rights, then that's their statement that none of those good things matter to them.

And correct me if I'm wrong, but you can't use the "control" argument in the case of Metallica -- from what I understand, they own all their own masters, they produce their own music, and they don't follow the decisions of some major music behemoth. So it's them that control their music, which strangely is their legal right.
posted by delfuego at 8:44 PM on June 13, 2000

"Court Asked To Shut Down Napster"

What's up with that racist title? :)

In case you missed the reference.
posted by jblock at 8:50 PM on June 13, 2000

"So for me, I've abandoned Napster and moved on the the newsgroups. That's where the good stuff is anyway." --DeanPaxton

Exactly. Napster is chock full of Korn and that's about it. Stick to newsgroups and anon FTP servers, it's much safer, easier, better, faster, cooler, stealthier......
posted by jblock at 8:53 PM on June 13, 2000

"Napster is chock full of Korn and that's about it."
Well, I dunno. I've looked for somewhat obscure stuff and there's people have them. Just a shame 13meg files are a bitch to download over a 56K :)

Good point about other methods being faster though.

"people downloading copyrighted music for free is illegal."
Copyrighted by whom? The people who made the music, or the record companies? Let's face it, people don't really have much sympathy for the RIAA establishment because the RIAA are a pretty immoral bunch themselves. Of course, it's not right that people download this stuff, but who's stopping them? In terms of this sort of thing, the law is an ass.
posted by GrahamVM at 8:46 AM on June 14, 2000