Napster and the Atomic Bomb

[Lasher]

I always have to chuckle when I see people getting all fired up over things they can do nothing about...

The entire Napster vs. The RIAA situation is little more than a footnote. The fact of the matter is - free file transfer is here and it's not going to go away. Laurel's made this point several times on this board already - shutting down Napster isn't going to change what's happening. The knowledge exists, and it's not going to go away. Napster is great because it exists as a humongous network now - I'm sitting here with 3,101 GB worth of files available to me this very moment - and it's easy to use. But I have no doubt that the minute someone restricts the usage of Napster, something else will come along and replace it that will be just as effective, maybe even easier to use (if that's possible), and more difficult to regulate.

Now to argue over how the market is going "survive" Napster is just as silly. Consider this a situation of "what comes around goes around". For 16 years the consumer has been held hostage by the music industry. Up until the development of the CD, there wasn't much to be concerned with as far as convenience and sound quality available from the various media used to deliver music to the public - it was all fairly shitty, and was inconvient as hell to use. But boy, didn't CD make life so much easier? I know as soon as I bought my first CD player, I was hell bent to replace all my cassette tapes (over 500 at that point) with CDs.

Now, the nice thing was, the music industry kept promising us that as the technology became more widespread and the purchase of CDs more common, that the price of the CD would come down. Has anyone seen that happen yet? What we forgot as gullible little consumers was that, once the music industry had us hooked on these things at $16.99 a pop, they had no reason to bring the prices down - and they haven't.

But now we as internet users have the edge we need to bring the music industry around - free file transfer! The joy of Capitalism is that market forces will balance each other out. And as Laurel has pointed out (also) - free file transfer will have the same effect on the music industry that the VCR had on the movie industry. People forget that the movie industry in the mid 1970s was dying. Theatres were closing at an alarming rate. The number of features being made was markedly down. What the VCR was able to do was create an insatiable demand for NEW product - first to be viewed at home - but the economic impact from that fueled increased feature productions. Look at where the movie industry is today. I can walk out my front door, turn in any direction and can almost spit on ANOTHER multi-plex. Does anyone today really thing that the VCR has been bad for the movie industry??

Now, I can't tell you how this is all going to work out, but I do know that what makes this country great is the ability of our people to take a good idea and make a shitload of money out of it. It's coming with Napster, or something similar - and it'll be so smooth when it happens that you won't even notice until you look back 20 years from now and say, "Gee, the music industry was so in the shit back in the '00s, but look at it today... Goddamn Napster, who'da thunk it?"...

So for all of you people who are saddened by the fact the Metallica is going broke because of Napster (God, could you find someone less worthy to feel sorry for, btw??)... Let me present you with my:

4 Reasons Why I Love Napster

1. Martin Briley - "The Salt in My Tears".

I haven't heard this fucking song in 15 years. It's something that's popped into my head from time to time over the years, but you know how it is when you're in a music store - you just wonder around aimlessly thinking, "God, what the fuck is the name of that song I was looking for??". And I could never think of the name of this damn Martin Briley guy (I guarantee ya that if he sees this he's gonna be thanking God for Napster, too!). So the other night it popped into my head, I did a search for the song title, and took a chance and downloaded it!! Mission accomplished.

2. Cruzados - "Motorcycle Girl".

Damn near the same thing as above. This fucking song has been out of print since damn near the day it was released. I taped it off a buddy's ALBUM in 1987, lost that tape in 1990, and have been trying to replace it ever since. I found it on Napster Sunday night - and about an hour after I downloaded it, somebody uploaded it from me!!! What are the chances of that?

3. The Buzz Poets - "Copenhagen Girl" (uncensored version).

Local Pittsburgh band puts out a track with the lyrics, "Well I thought I found the girl for me... She had long legs, nice hair and a shaved pussy..." and just offends the hell outta everyone (almost). So the local radio station starts playing a censored version with the lyrics, "Well I thought I found the girl for me... She had long legs, nice hair and loved to ski....." WTF!!?? These guys don't even have the balls to sing that lyric live anymore... But I still got it off of Napster....

4. Donnie Iris

Yet another Pixburgh phenonmenon - the difference being that Donnie enjoyed some nationwide success back in the late '70s and early '80s (He was even on "Solid Gold" once - think he was singing "Ah Leah" or something, it was like #9 that week). However, since MCA dropped him in the early '80s, 3/4 of his catalogue is unavailable (MCA continues to refuse to allow him to release a self-produced greatest hits disc featuring any of those tracks, or to allow him to re-release those albums independently) - unless of course you download it from Napster (Although I'm still wondering about the people who have taken the time to digitize music from 20+ yr old Donnie Iris 8 tracks. Wonder how many Irons you gotta drink before that idea pops in your head?).

Ok, do we get the idea now?? Maybe I'm the exception that proves the rule, but I'm sure as hell not sitting here downloading music that pops up on the radio all the damn time. There's so many great songs that I've forgotten - and slowly but surely they keep jumping back into my head. Why would I want to waste my time with Metallica (Unless "Garage Days" is still unavailable on CD, then I might just have to download "Last Caress", but that's IT!), when there's so much more out there??

(BTW, this is now officially the longest post in the history of Literotica!!)

 

[Lasher]

Ooops.

This was meant to be a post on another thread, LOL. Looks like I fucked up. But what's one more shitty thread on the board, right??

 

[KillerMuffin]

WOW how long did it take ya'll to type THAT?!?!

I've been attached to Napster for a year now. My CD buying hasn't slowed a bit.

I love napster because of two songs:

Billy and the Boingers - I'm a Boinger
and
Billy and the Boingers - U Stink But I Love U

neither have appeared anywhere but on now unavailable record flippy floppy doohickeys attached to the front of the Boinger book.

The porno version of speed racer theme by Racer X was pretty good too.

I hate napster because:

1. Some moron always cuts me off when I have 9,999,872 bytes of a 11,876,653 byte mp3

2. I don't have DSL

3. 9 people want to download Traci Lords - I Want You from me all at the same time making me LAG like a mofo.

I've considered deleting all of my Metallica files, but instead, I've decided to upload every single one I can get my mitts on, just to vex Lars & Co. (the Traitors).

For their personal information (they're probably too busy counting cash to notice anyone else), I went out and purchased a 90 dollar box set from them simply because of a mp3 I downloaded. The coors light beer song. Come to think of it, I hate coors light.

 

[Laurel]

1. Some moron always cuts me off when I have 9,999,872 bytes of a 11,876,653 byte mp3

2. I don't have DSL

LMAO! Before I got DSL, I totally felt your pain. I'd spend 45 minutes downloading a live version of an unreleased Radiohead song and get jacked within 10K of completion. Argh! Now that I have DSL, everyone wants to download from ME, and I hate cutting people off, so every time I log on, I'm stuck there for hours.

Lasher, you said it perfectly. I have nothing to add.

 

[Monaco]

Lasher, you have a point...

... about the market working things out. You're probably right. Some mechanism will always allow the players to make a ton of cash at our expense.

Just don't confuse Big Labels with the music you hear on the radio or through Napster. They didn't make it. Self-employed shits like myself did. Desperately poor, hanging-on-for-dear-life indies like me who somehow, at some point, got a break.

If Napster permits free trade of original songs, no indy artist will ever earn a penny without being signed to a major label, because nobody will bother bending over backwards to import the badly distributed, self-produced CD. That's my only concern. How many CD's have you bought from MP3.com (i.e. from indy artists) lately? Now how many songs did you download from similar (indy-promoting) sites?

That's my beef. I'd hate for Napster to just give the Majors an even BIGGER end of this stick. Seems the artists (not the Metallica's, but rather the Loco Locass's of the world) are always losing out in this war...

As for getting my hands on forgotten songs, Napster sure is a dream come true:

Three Fish (Jeff Ament's side-project) had a song out some four years ago called "Laced". Never got distributed here, and I only heard it once, but last week, I popped it into Napster and BOOM, there it was: I love it!

 

[Lasher]

Well, actually...

You got the wrong guy here, Monaco. All 5 discs in my cd changer are independently produced by local Pittsburgh bands (2 from the Clarks, 2 from Gathering Field, and one from the Dharma Sons). I gave up on "big label" music a couple years ago...

I'm not particularly interested in arguing either side's point on this. The truth, as usual, lies somewhere in between.

 

[KillerMuffin]

I once tripped over Jeff Healy's roadie, causing him to stagger backwards,trying to save his load from certain catastrophic floorsmacking, directly into a coffee table that had no business being where it was, resulting in a quick trip to the ER and twelve stitches in his shoulder, which caused me to feel obliged to purchase the man's booze for the next two nights, despite the fact that I was only 16 and rather broke at the time and he really shouldn't have mixed the painkillers and the booze, it made him rather sick and he threw up on the mechanical bull. Does that count as supporting independent artists trying to get ahead in this crazy world?

You can't reason with 17 year old males when it comes to drunkenly riding the mechanical bull. Did I mention that the roadie in question was a temporary roadie as well as my boyfriend du jour? I guess it didn't come up.

The Queen of the runon sentence strikes again!!!!

 

[Magic Merlin]

Re: Lasher, you have a point...

Just don't confuse Big Labels with the music you hear on the radio or through Napster. They didn't make it. Self-employed shits like myself did. Desperately poor, hanging-on-for-dear-life indies like me who somehow, at some point, got a break.

If Napster permits free trade of original songs, no indy artist will ever earn a penny without being signed to a major label, because nobody will bother bending over backwards to import the badly distributed, self-produced CD. That's my only concern. How many CD's have you bought from MP3.com (i.e. from indy artists) lately? Now how many songs did you download from similar (indy-promoting) sites?

That's my beef. I'd hate for Napster to just give the Majors an even BIGGER end of this stick. Seems the artists (not the Metallica's, but rather the Loco Locass's of the world) are always losing out in this war...

Monaco, this is the point I want to respond to. As for myself, I have all of the equipment to download files very fast and burn all the free CDs I want. Have I burned even one CD? Hell no! I don't want to spend countless hours doing something so boring.

Monaco, if I have never heard of you or been exposed to your music then I will never buy any of your music. All Napster, and others like them do, is allow people to be exposed to recording artists. If I like your music then I will purchase it. If I don't, then I won't. Its that simple.

I'm not into piracy. And I never will be. But how many times have myself, you and others purchased a CD album for $16.99 and then found that it was absolute crap. I've been burned so many times that I have almost quit buying music anymore.

For all of the artists on here, if I'm not exposed to your music, comedy or whatever your craft is, how will I ever know who you are, or want to purchase your product if I'm not exposed to it? Laurel and Lasher are so right on, on this topic. Napster just increases your exposure to the public. The public that if they like your craft, will then pay good, HARD EARNED money to purchase your CDs. And remember the key words here, are HARD EARNED MONEY!

Thats the way I feel about it. I work hard for what I have. And if you want me and millions of others to spend our money on your music, then let us hear it. Its only going to help you in the long run!!

And if you don't, well then I will never know who you are. And that is your choice!

[Edited by Magic Merlin on 08-12-2000 at 07:01 AM]

 

[Patryn]

I'm kinda torn on the whole Napster thing actually. Part of me thinks it sweet revenge...record companies and CD distributors, and especially record stores have been overcharging us for CDs for way too long. I also hate having to buy an entire otherwise shitty CD for 2 or 3 songs I like.

On the other hand, I think about how I would feel if I were a lesser known artist, or one just starting out, and people were getting my work for free. Fuck Metallica, they could support a third world country on what they make....that song "Better than You" was foreshadowing if you ask me.

 

[Laurel]

Just don't confuse Big Labels with the music you hear on the radio or through Napster. They didn't make it. Self-employed shits like myself did. Desperately poor, hanging-on-for-dear-life indies like me who somehow, at some point, got a break.

If Napster permits free trade of original songs, no indy artist will ever earn a penny without being signed to a major label, because nobody will bother bending over backwards to import the badly distributed, self-produced CD. That's my only concern. How many CD's have you bought from MP3.com (i.e. from indy artists) lately? Now how many songs did you download from similar (indy-promoting) sites?

Having worked with indie bands and labels for several years, I think that Napster is one of the best things that has ever happened to artists. The single biggest power that major labels hold and use to maintain their control over artists is distribution. Major labels control the distribution of music to consumers by spending hundreds of millions of dollars buying space in retail stores and pushing out any artist who doesn't have the monetary clout that they do.

In doing so, they also control access to radio and MTV. If you've ever tried to take an indie record to radio, you will know that the first question a program/music director asks is "What's the distribution like?" A big commercial radio station is not, in most cases, going to play a record, regardless of its quality, if the average listener can't walk into a store and buy it.

Most major distributors - and some of the biggest chains - are owned partially or in full by major labels who have a vested interest in making sure that only their artists get the distribution and media exposure that is necessary to produce a hit. There are a few indie labels - for example, Epitaph - who've had limited success at bringing their artists into the mainstream. These are, however, exceptions to the rule and more often than not you'll find that there's a story behind the story that helps explain how these "indie" artists blew up.

Major labels feel threatened by services like Napster because they eliminate the distribution monopoly that the labels have relied on for so long. These big companies have traditionally made their money not by putting out the best product, but by putting out the ONLY product. Once the profit model of electronic distribution is determined, and it hasn't been yet, then I see indie artists having far greater access to their potential fans than ever before in the history of the world. I fully expect big labels to try everything in their power, including going as far as buying companies like Napster, to try to keep their control over music distribution channels. I do not believe in the long run that they will be successful.

Musicians today are treated much like movie actors and actresses in the old days. They are forced to sign unfair, oppressive long-term contracts early in their careers if they want to have any chance to get big. As a result of this, labels (and this sometimes includes indie labels) end up making a dollar for every penny that the artist makes. I see a future - still years off - where the artist has the control instead of the big corporation. Any technology that removes financial or physical barriers to access can only be a good thing for artists in the long term.

 

[Svedish_Chef]

Laurel.... you too with Radiohead... your taste must be so close to mine!

Now can anyone actually tell me exactly what napster does again?

Da chef

 

[Handy-Andy]

Ice - Cube sums it up on a track " record company pimpin".

The record company's the pimp..
The artist is the hoe..
The stage is the corner and..
The audience is the trick..

 

[Cheri]

One of my other favorite sites, IronMinds, has had several interesting articles about the whole Napster thing. I'll post the link here, in case you guys haven't seen them.
http://www.ironminds.com/ironminds/issues/000811/tunes.shtml
This one brings up some interesting points about the whole physical vs. intellectual property dilemma. Her previous stuff is interesting too, especially Napters: God gets even.
I am also a Napster fan and have the library (900+) and cable connection to prove it. Downloading mp3s has not changed my music buying patterns at all, instead it has given my tastes greater diversity. But enough of the soapbox.
Hey also check out Modern Humorist hysterical Napster poster....man I want one!

 

[Laurel]

Very cool site!

 

[Cheri]

Yeah it is. It's one of the few sites that makes me feel both older and wiser and still young enough to be hip at the same time. lol And let me tell you I need all the help I can get at both!