Napster VS The World 
By: Charles Randolf

No matter what your opinion of Napster is; it is a phenomenon that is larger than what anyone can control. We are going to present two different sides to the Napster story.  MP3 downloads are defiantly here to stay, whether they are viewed as a threat or benefit to the music community.

It is my opinion that this is a classic example of the pendulum effect as it swung to far to the right with the oppressive CD prices and now has crashed far left with the free-for-all revolution - but has the pendulum swung too far?


Both Sides Of  The Coin
Roi is an average music fan, he buys CDs when he hears
something that drives him to, he is a Generation X-er and Metallica fan, Allen is a guitarist in a band, he rarely buys CDs unless he really likes the band, he is also a Generation X-er and Metallica fan. Both are also working in a middle class environment and have opposing views about Napster.
And here are their views.

Side 1:   Roi says "New bands starting out will suffer, no one will want to buy their
CDs when they can be downloaded and practically stolen."

Side 2: Allen says "The opposite can also be said from free downloads, bands with
no fan-base at all can now become widely popular through downloads. Especially
once a buzz gets going, their concerts will start selling tickets."

Side 1: "Once people download music they won't buy the album."

Side 2: "I find the opposite true, since I don't have a MP3 player in my car, I have to
go out and buy the CD if I actually like what I have downloaded."

Side 1: "Record companies can put out downloadable samples."

Side 2: "But they are some circumstances where the band doesn't have the rights to the
song - case in point - Metallica played with the Symphony and played the Imperial Stormtroopers march from the Star Wars movie, they don't have the legal right to distribute this song, and if it wasn't for Napster I would never own a copy of that song, or have ever heard of it for that matter,

  I really feel denied from bands not releasing this, and if a bootleg CD comes out, they don't get a penny of that money either, and I have to pay obscene prices for those CDs - up to $40 for rare ones! So who looses in that situation, everybody.  Besides you know how many times that I went to buy an album because I heard it over the radio, just to find all the other tracks on the CD are garbage???"   

Side 2: "The real thieves are the record companies, first off - they flat out
lied when they promised when CDs first came out about a decade ago that they would
cost basically half the price, but instead CDs cost TWICE the price of a cassette!"

Side 2:  "Furthermore the bands get shafted, out of a $16.99 CD the band MAY see
fifty cents!  Bands make more money on ticket sales to concerts and selling merchandise than they will see from record sales."

Side 1: "MP3s are hard to find, you can only find pieces of entire albums, they are not
arranged in any order and mostly floating around in limbo-land. I like to go the CD store
and walk up to Rock or Country section and just pickup what I want. Easy and simple."

Side 2: "Its a good thing entire albums are difficult to find, otherwise more people would
just download them and not buy the album, the way it is now, it IS easier to guy buy
a CD if you want the entire album - and that's how it should be. Labels can be bad
in a lot of ways, it keeps people from broadening their listening choices, and hurts a lot
of good bands, because their music never get heard."

More Resources
You can help the fight against the RIAA bullying tactics by signing the internet boycott
here: http://www.proboards.com/napster/

You can download Napster while it is still running by going here: http://www.napster.com

In Conclusion
I believe truly there are two valid sides to the argument, but know one thing for sure,
there must be a middle ground or compromise before the situation continues to get
grow into a complete disaster. There should be downloads under some circumstances
but the real question is- do record companies still have a place with their legacy business model?  I don't think so, and now it is adapt or die time. 

Many bands can record material with equal sound quality right in their home studios anymore with the digital technology available. But the money factor does matter, and the music has to be paid for by someone or else how can bands fund their elaborate tours to even get off the ground? Everybody needs to get back in touch with reality
and this includes the bands, the record labels AND the fans.