Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Napster / Elvis

Author:Nick Sweeney
Posted:6/29/2000; 7:59:33 AM
Topic:Napster / Elvis
Msg #:18249
Prev/Next:18248 / 18250

You can take the analogy backwards, too. Elvis appropriated black music for a white demographic and made it palatably revolutionary, giving it a wider audience through TV and radio play. Similarly, Napster appropriated the underground file-sharing of Hotline and IRC -- the warez/cracks scene -- and wrapped it up in a friendly, MP3-centric GUI.

But long before the rhinestones and Las Vegas, Elvis made it possible for others to take marginal music and challenge the mainstream. The Rolling Stones borrowed from the blues, Dylan from the rich folk tradition of the mid-West. And that's what we have to hope for: that even if Napster goes under, or goes corporate, it liberates the margins.

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