Chuck D Gives Props To Napster

schtum writes: "As reported on NME: Public Enemy's Chuck D has become the first high-profile artist to come out in support of under-fire website and MP3 software provider Napster You can read Mr. D's original statement here."

Comments

He did, and the label stopped them cold!

[isaac]

PE was one of the first major acts to put free, full, downloadable tracks online (not in MP3 format, unfortunately, but as self-playing executables. I'll forgive them for this lack of cross-platform savvy, given that this was in 1998, early in the MP3-era). The tracks lasted all of a few days before their label ordered them removed, under legal threat; thereafter, Chuck D posted a message on the website exhorting fans who had managed to download the tracks to spread them far and wide. He's a long-time fan of downloadable music and a longer-time critic of the RIAA!

-Isaac

Chuck D at Berkeley

[doozy]

Chuck D spoke today at a conference I went to called "Music to Whose Ears" put on by the law journal. He was the keynote speaker, and raised a few good points in the measly 20 minutes they gave him:

1. Unlike when CDs came out, the "new" media is in the hands of the consumers, not the record companies. That means that the companies don't have the consumers by the nose: no more paying $18 for a CD that costs The Internet allows music to be globally produced and globally heard. Instead of having 5% of the music out there being heard, the other 95% has a better chance, due to the fact that it costs very little to produce and promote music on the Internet. MP3.com is free. In the Record Company's world, to promote a CD costs millions, including thousands for magazine ads, radio play, and the like. So, with the Internet, there are fewer barriers, which enables more music to be produced and heard.
2. Chuck D says Napster is a Good Thing. For the past decade or so, the record company's have been forcing consumers to pay large amounts of money, often without giving them a chance to hear it first. Not all CDs are in the little listening kiosks. With this new media, you can actually listen to the music and decide whether to consciously support the artist with your money or not.
3. The record companies cannot be allowed to win. The jacking of the consumer cannot be allowed to go on. Instead, the Internet will force them to come up with new paradigms of selling, and force the courts to come up with new paradigms of copyright protection. Maybe record companies will become what they should have been all along, collectively owned by the artists with profit sharing, instead of management getting the big bucks at the expense of artists.

Chuck D had a lot more to say (and said a lot more) but I think this is the gist of it. It was an incredible little talk, but I wish they'd given him more than 20 minutes. All in all, Chuck D showed the knowledge and insight that made PE so far ahead of its time.

The way the music business works

[K8Fan]

Steve Albini wrote an article some of your may be familiar with, but others may not. The famed producer details exactly how a new band can sign a contract, record an album, have a hit and tour...and wind up oweing money to the record company and spend a year making a third of what they would have if they had spent the same amount of time working at a convenience store.

It's a lovely answer to those who argue that Napster and free distribution are a worse deal than they have currently. Read this and you'll see it's not possible to have a worse deal than you'll get from a major record label.

Chuck D's strong and original opinions

[ContinuousPark]

Wired Magazine has this interview with him. This is from March 1999. Also, kind of offtopic, but did you know his position on the MS trial "When someone comes along and dominates an industry, of course you get a whole bunch of losers screaming, hoping somehow they can beat 'em down. Show me a good loser, and I'll show you a loser. Bill Gates is Michael Jordan" and on software pirates: "To the pirates, I say the more the merrier. Success comes from the fans first - if someone is going to pirate something of mine, I just have to make sure to do nine or ten new things. I mean, you can't download me" You might want to check Public Enemy's website too.