Despite being attacked by advocates of the music industry, as well as unhappy banned consumers, Napster is holding strong in their position that they are not breaking copyright laws.
On Tuesday, July 11, Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich stood before a Senate committee, calling for a stop to Internet music “piracy”. As the spokesperson for Metallica, which is suing Napster, as well as others in the major music industry, Ulrich called for government intervention to resolve the problem.
“I don’t think there is a way this can be worked out without your involvement,” Ulrich said, addressing the Senate. “Napster hijacked our music without asking.”
Napster has quickly gained popularity in the last year by providing online surfers the ability to freely trade or download MP3 files, which compress music from compact discs into computer files.
Metallica stepped into the fight after the group heard an unreleased work-in-progress for the soundtrack of Mission Impossible 2, and the leak was traced back to Napster. Rapper Dr. Dre has joined Metallica as the most vocal representatives from the music industry, which is demanding action.
Despite the opposition and after a New York federal judge’s ruling that the company was breaking copyright law, Napster is standing its ground that it’s in the right.
“I think we must let the market work and let history be our guide in not squashing this technology this soon,” Hank Barry said. Barry, CEO of Napster, has noted that the company is working out copyright complaints with radio, television and satellite TV organizations.
After the April 28 court ruling, Napster made an attempt to appease the Recording Industry Association of America and opponents such as Metallica, by requesting the band to provide a list of the names of Napster users who have committed copyright infringements.
With the names from that list, Napster has banned over 300,000 users. 30,000 of those users are now appealing the court ruling, an option given to them by Napster. Nonetheless, Napster’s actions are not a solution, according to groups supporting the Downloadable Music Awareness Project.
A partner in DMA, Michael Robb of Cognicity, noted that a balance needs to be struck between the wide-open MP3 access that Napster provides, and the encrypted formats that music groups such as Metallica are pushing for.
According to Paul Anthony, CEO and founder of DMA and Rumblefish Records, DMA’s goal is to educate consumers, rather than saying what is right or wrong. By putting it in perspective, DMA believes they can convince fans that by providing music for free, they are affecting the future music industry negatively.
“We make money by selling intellectual property. Just because you can’t put it in a box doesn’t mean it’s not worth something,” Anthony said.
Cognicity, a leading audio watermarking provider, is working on technology that will solve many of the concerns of content owners and organizations including the Artists Coalition Against Piracy and the RIAA. Cognicity, which is located in Minneapolis, Minn., has created AudioKey MP3 tMark V.1.0, a tool which will protect record labels, artists and music providers from piracy.
AudioKey is the online music industry’s first transactional watermarking solution for MP3 music downloads, and embeds unique watermarks into digital audio files in real-time, as the file is being downloaded. With this technology, content owners can fingerprint music and identify those who abuse content distribution rights.
“The real-time process is very fast and will not impact the consumer download time,” said Michael Fitts, president of Indiego Global Distribution. “We believe this approach will help keep the honest people honest.”
With further dispute on the horizon between Napster and the music industry, Anthony concluded that while Napster’s technology is amazing, they aren’t taking responsibility for their actions. But technological progress like Cognicity’s AudioKey will force them to do just that.
“The fans want the music, and we’re trying to give it to them,” Anthony said.