http://cliftonhatfield.com/why-napster-failed-in-2001/
http://www.forbes.com/2000/04/14/mu4.html
The role of Napster in 2001:
What was Napster? What was special about the program?
Napster is a Peer-to-Peer (P2P) file sharing were users shared music illegally over the Internet in MP3 format with each other from their own computers. The feature that made Napster special was the fact that you could share your collection with others for free. The way in which Napster worked was 1 person would buy a CD from for example HMV. Say for instance in the present day it was the album "21" by Adele, it would only take 1 person to rip that album and upload it to Napster which would automatically allow other users to download it. By doing this users would download it from Napster and share it across the Internet. Napster spread like wildfire, attracting hundreds of users and dramatically rising to its peak of 26 million users. At the time that wasn't as many as now as Facebook as 500+ million users. But after the millennium this was a huge number. In short terms, by using Napster, you were stealing.
What was the response from consumers?
Napster at its peak had over 26 million users which now isn't alot but at the time after the millenium this was a lot. Napster was so popular because of its free service which it offered to consumers. Napster was easy to use and easy to find songs which you wanted. This proved to be a lot easier and cheaper than actually travelling to a brick and mortor store and purchasing a physical copy.
What was the response from the artists?
During the rise of Napster Metallica got word that one of their demos "I Disappear" got leaked onto Napster before it was even released. Metallica decided to sue Napster along with the University of Southern California, Yale University and Indiana University and Metallica claimed that the Universities encouraged the usage of Napster. And copy songs without permission.
Metallica's drummer Lars Ulrich said this on the band's website, "Its sickening to know that our art is being traded like a commodity than the art that it is."
Metallica also claimed that the Universities are hypocritical as they can block the "Insidious and ongoing theivery scheme." The bottom line is that Metallica want their music to be heard legally by purchasing their album when it is released, they don't want to feel as though theyve been cheated."
Dr. Dre
What happened to Napster?
2. The role of iTunes:
When did iTunes get introduced?
What services does it offer?
How has it changed the music industry?
How has the platform changed between its inception and present day?