What strikes me is that no one realises that the "war" is not between the artists and Napster, but between the Recording Industry Association and Napster.
All P2P file sharing software is an alternative distribution mechanism to the traditional embedding of digital Intelectual Property in physical objects like CDs that need an entire distribution network.
The revenues of Recoding Companies exist because of the leverage they enjoy from owning and managing world class embedding and distribution networks, this is also the reason that they screw over artists regularly and give them only a very small portion of the sale price of each unit of music. These recording companies also currently shell out most of the money for publicising the performance, and hence are also publicity companies for their roster of artists.
File sharing presents a threat to their business because it will erode the basic competitive deterents (like large investments in distribution relationships and recording equiptment) that these companies have built up over their histories.
Napster will allow artists (or Companies that exist to distribute Itelectual Property over Digital media) to bypass these existing behemoths and deliver their IP for a overall lower cost to the consumer and higher margins for themselves.
Slashdot Mirror
All P2P file sharing software is an alternative distribution mechanism to the traditional embedding of digital Intelectual Property in physical objects like CDs that need an entire distribution network.
The revenues of Recoding Companies exist because of the leverage they enjoy from owning and managing world class embedding and distribution networks, this is also the reason that they screw over artists regularly and give them only a very small portion of the sale price of each unit of music. These recording companies also currently shell out most of the money for publicising the performance, and hence are also publicity companies for their roster of artists.
File sharing presents a threat to their business because it will erode the basic competitive deterents (like large investments in distribution relationships and recording equiptment) that these companies have built up over their histories.
Napster will allow artists (or Companies that exist to distribute Itelectual Property over Digital media) to bypass these existing behemoths and deliver their IP for a overall lower cost to the consumer and higher margins for themselves.