Napster Essay, Research Paper

Doesn’t everyone like something for free? Well Napster is the thing for them. You can get free music in your own home. It’s like having your own radio show in your house. You pick what song you want to listen to, when you want to listen to it. All you need is a computer. Napster is a computer program where you can download music from the Internet. It’s like a big community of people sharing music with each other. It costs nothing. You just search for the songs of your choice. I believe that people should be able to download music off Napster because it’s just like the VCR, radio, and tape, it’s a good way to promote music, and it’s a way for new artists to be heard.

In fact Napster is just like the VCR, radio, and tape. According to David Grohl (napster.com) “it’s the same as turning on the radio.” You listen to different songs, except you choose which ones you want to listen to. If they shut down Napster, will they shut down the radio? According to Dave Mathews (napster.com) “We allowed people to tape our concerts from the beginning, and the record company questioned us about allowing that. My thinking was that it only makes people want to buy more and increase the devotion of people who are going to listen to us.” You’re doing the same thing on Napster that you would do at the concert. It’s just more convenient to do it in your own home.

Why would artists want to ban Napster when it promotes their music? “It’s a good way to promote music,” says B.B King (napster.com.) Napster could help people hear your new songs and if they like them you’ll make money and become famous. Furthermore, according to Madonna “Napster could be a great way for people to hear your music who wouldn’t have the chance to hear it on the radio.” Chuck D, (napster.com) says, “we should think of (Napster) as a kind of radio?a promotional tool that can help artists who don’t have their music played on mainstream radio or on MTV.”

“There are a lot bigger problem in the world then Napster” says Dave Mathews (napster.com.) A bigger problem is that the people misuse Napster by putting music onto cd’s. This problem is not a new one. People have been copying music on audio as well as video tapes for a long time. Napster is just another source to obtain music. According to Courtney Love “stealing our copyright provisions in the dead of night when no-one is looking is piracy. It’s not piracy when kids swap music over the Internet using Napster. There were more than one billion downloads last year but music sales have been up, so how is Napster hurting the music industry?” Therefore Napster is not illegal, but some people use it in ways that are. So what is the solution? Should we stop selling blank cd’s?

Without a doubt Napster is a good way to promote music. Think of how it helps bands who aren’t played on the radio. Napster is just another source of music as is the radio, audio, and video cassette. People who are going to “steal” the music to sell for finance gain could do that through sources other than Napster. Napster does not promote this kind of behavior. The next time you see a sign to ban Napster, don’t support it. Remember Napster doesn’t hurt bands it helps them. If our freedom to hear the kind of music we choose when we want is taken away, what other freedom will be next to go?