Napster says their service is OK (not detrimental to the music industry) because users are exposed to music they wouldn't normally be exposed to and then they go out and buy the CD.
RIAA is upset because they are afraid that services (and they have targeted Napster) which allow free swapping of high quality recordings will hurt record sales (which has yet to be seen).
We all know that if they kill Napster they will be forever hunting down free services like Napster which already exist but are not as popular.
Now for the Epiphany Some marketing genius is really missing the boat here. RIAA needs to forget about trying to rid the world of Napster and come up with a way to use the Internet to distribute music in a way that people will find beneficial and thus will pay for. Maybe it starts with Internet radio to get you hooked on a song, then make the song available for purchase. There's more to it than this, but when I'm sitting at my (BORING) desk all day long, I am much more likely to buy some downloadable CD than go to the store to get it. While I would much rather get the music for free from Napster - well, that's a problem for the marketing genius I spoke of earlier.
RIAA needs to stop whining and solve the problem on its own. USE the technology for mass distribution. Don't tell us we can order a CD online. Tell us we can download the CD for half the price (b/c there is no media cost, no shipping, no store, no guy at the register) and write the CD ourselves. C'mon guys, be creative...
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Now for the Epiphany
Some marketing genius is really missing the boat here. RIAA needs to forget about trying to rid the world of Napster and come up with a way to use the Internet to distribute music in a way that people will find beneficial and thus will pay for. Maybe it starts with Internet radio to get you hooked on a song, then make the song available for purchase. There's more to it than this, but when I'm sitting at my (BORING) desk all day long, I am much more likely to buy some downloadable CD than go to the store to get it. While I would much rather get the music for free from Napster - well, that's a problem for the marketing genius I spoke of earlier.
RIAA needs to stop whining and solve the problem on its own. USE the technology for mass distribution. Don't tell us we can order a CD online. Tell us we can download the CD for half the price (b/c there is no media cost, no shipping, no store, no guy at the register) and write the CD ourselves. C'mon guys, be creative...
How difficult will this be to prosecute?