Napster Essay Essay, Research Paper

Who wouldn t want to get free music off the Internet? I know I would jump at the chance to be able to get all the music I ve ever wanted for free. This is what the program Napster has attempted to do. But, you have to as yourself, what about copyright laws? What would happen if everybody stopped buying albums because they could get it for free? Napster has broken copyright laws, and album sales have decreased because of Napster. Napster should be shutdown because music is being distributed for free! These are the very reason s why Metallica and record companies have sued Napster.

Copyright laws were created for a reason, to stop people from pawning and stealing. With the music industry, the copyright laws protect artist s music from being ripped off and distributed illegally. Essentially, this is what Napster does, people distribute and download music for free. Napster violates these copyright laws. It s not just that people download CD s and listen to them on their computers, but they also use CD burners and create their own music CD s.

The music industry has lost millions of dollars in sales because Napster allows people to get their music for free. A study showed that since Napster was created the music industry and record companies have lost millions of dollars in their annual sales. There is, however one good aspect to Napster, and that is it allows for new and upcoming bands a chance to be discovered more easily. But, what about the already established bands? They are the ones who are losing money from their album sales.

The band known as Metallica, arguably the greatest heavy metal band to ever hit the stage, has joined in the fight against Napster and is sueing the huge company. At this moment, all around the world, hundreds of thousands of people are breaking into record stores and stealing CD s and tapes, or they might as well be. This quote came from Metallica s attorney Howard King; it explains why the heavy metal band is sueing the Internet music provider known as Napster, Inc. Metallica s lead singer James Hetfield said, There has to be someone who steps up and represents musicians. Napster s defense towards Metallica is that the band built its name promoting bootlegs and underground tape distribution. But, Metallica does not care about the underground, rare, live recordings, they only wish to stop the actual copyrighted album songs from being distributed through Napster illegally.

The Music provider know as Napster should be shutdown because music is being distributed for free. It is clear that Napster violates copyright laws, which should be enough for any court to rule in favor of the music industry, who is also losing millions of dollars because of Napster. While violating copyright laws Napster has managed to anger the music industry and one of the most influential heavy metal bands of our time. When you know the facts, it becomes very difficult to defend Napsters case.