Napster & It's Evolution
Napster was co-founded in 1999 by John Fanning, Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker. Its premise was to allow users to share music. Napster pioneered the peer-to-peer file sharing internet service. With this program you were allowed to share audio files, most commonly music, as long as it was encoded in MP3 format. At its peak Napster serviced about 80 million users, who all participated in the file sharing, accessing thousands of free copyright songs.
The heavy metal band Metallica discovered that one of their unreleased songs was circulating on the internet and eventually made its way to the radio, gaining airplay without any consent. Later on, they found out that their entire catalog of studio material had leaked and was now being shared by Napster's users. Metallica filed a lawsuit against Napster in 2000, with music-producer Dr. Dre filing a similar one a month later.Both lawsuits were eventually settled.
In 2000, A&M Records along with several other record companies sued Napster over copyright infringement under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Following a number of other mishaps, Napster and its free file sharing service was eventually shut down in 2001. It is now owned by Best Buy and operates on a pay-to-use streaming music service.
Napster set the platform for the technological evolution in the way we view, obtain, share, and appreciate music. There has since been a number of other programs with the same premise as Napster. Napster has paved the way for two of the most popular music services to date: iTunes & YouTube.
The CREATION OF iTunes
Last year, iTunes celebrated its 10th anniversary. Ten whole years of having music at the tips of your fingers. Ten whole years of having the ability to share music with your friends. No more having to go to the store and purchase the CD; music from iTunes was instantaneous. iTunes revolutionized the way we listen to music. An artist can release a new single at 3PM and you can have it in your ears by 3:01PM. All of this has been great for the technological growth in music and things can only get better from here. Still, to know where your going is to know where you've been and there's one thing we know for sure: iTunes would not exist without Napster.
The late and great Steve Jobs struck a gold mine when he came up with the idea of iTunes. After Napster's demise, he saw an area in music that no one had tapped into yet. The 80 million users of Napster no longer had any place to get and share music. Many people saw the internet and MP3's in a negative light; they only hurt the artists, so when Napster shut down, they only worked on finding a way to prevent something like Napster from happening again. Steve Jobs saw something different; if he could create a way for music to be shared for the 80 million users that was easy, legal and affordable, it would be genius.
He began to contact the same record executives that despised Napster in hopes that this void could be filled. They couldn't ignore that sharing music digitally was a new and innovative way of doing business. He first got in contact with Warner Music, who had artists like Linkin Park and R.E.M., and worked his way in. It didn't take long before Apple had designed the iTunes Music Store, which made way for the creation of the first iPod.
The free music that people got from Napster wasn't what attracted so many eager users; it was the convenience of being able to contain any song with the click of a button.
The iTunes Music store opened on April 28th, 2003 and was instantly a revolution. In its first week, iTunes sold over one million downloads. It shot to the top, becoming the top distributor of music. In the ten years since its creation, it has brought in $38 billion in revenue.
The iTunes Music store opened on April 28th, 2003 and was instantly a revolution. In its first week, iTunes sold over one million downloads. It shot to the top, becoming the top distributor of music. In the ten years since its creation, it has brought in $38 billion in revenue.
youtube
YouTube and its creation was a direct affect of iTunes. This website was created on February 14, 2005 but three former PayPal employees who understood the significance of sharing music and took it a step further by having YouTube possess the ability to share videos on the spot.
YouTube started in a makeshift office in a garage and now has grown to a million dollar company. It has been purchased by Google and continues to do phenomenal things.
Justin Bieber was discovered on YouTube along with tons of other artists. YouTube provides the ability for someone to upload a song or music video and receive feedback within seconds. Long gone are the days where you could only watch a much video on television; an artist is able to share their creative work right away with their fans. Viewers of these videos are able to interact with one another on the spot. it's hard to not appreciate all the strides we have made with music.
YouTube started in a makeshift office in a garage and now has grown to a million dollar company. It has been purchased by Google and continues to do phenomenal things.
Justin Bieber was discovered on YouTube along with tons of other artists. YouTube provides the ability for someone to upload a song or music video and receive feedback within seconds. Long gone are the days where you could only watch a much video on television; an artist is able to share their creative work right away with their fans. Viewers of these videos are able to interact with one another on the spot. it's hard to not appreciate all the strides we have made with music.