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

Re: Napster and Software

Author:Russell Lipton
Posted:7/13/2000; 9:44:37 AM
Topic:scriptingNews outline for 7/12/2000
Msg #:18560 (In response to 18557)
Prev/Next:18559 / 18561

The reason the courts shouldn't short-circuit the Napster debate (among others) is that it is providing venues for (re)thinking value with respect to the music biz, narrowly, and copyright, more broadly.

Your comments also illustrate why framing Napster as piracy pure-and-simple is far too simplistic. My sons' generation is intuitively hip to this and doesn't believe they are just stealing the music, though they (my sons, at least) are as sensitive and uneasy about the possible (not established) ethical nuances as their elders. Maybe more so, since they have a band with a record exec interested in signing them.

Napster throws into relief something that is, minimally, outdated about the music business (if it was ever legitimate) and forces us to (re)value the relationships between musicians, producers, distributors and listeners.

(Re)valued monetary calculations in response to altered beliefs will indeed follow - and if the courts are smart, they will listen and learn before they shut down the process.

This entire episode is what is known as a "good thing". This is one of the best venues on the Net for educating each other and readers about Napster, narrowly, and Gnutella and the like, broadly.

aka HeadDuffer
duffer.editthispage.com
bookmark.editthispage.com

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