Updated June 2024
I originally wrote this piece in 2016. Now after the release of the documentary, When Music Was Free (based on the book of the same name), I've updated the text for 2024).
Who gets the blame for the file-sharing epidemic of the early 00's? At the time I pointed the finger right at the Record Companies. And guess what? I still think I'm right. I'm going to come clean here: I stole some songs from Napster. But I have an excuse. The songs I downloaded were hard-to find tracks that at that time never made it on to a CD reissue/compilation, etc. Napster appeared in the summer of 1999. But only lasted two years. There were many copycats, but Napster was king. Two years later in July 2001 it was shut down. Copyright infringement lawsuits by record companies killed it.
The genius of Napster. You could find everything. Once I found one forgotten Top 40 hit, I couldn't believe that others were showing up. There was a giddiness to the hunt. My attitude at that time was that if no one wants to put these out there for completists like me, then I'm going to find a way to get them. Remember YouTube wouldn't appear until 2005. Pandora also started in 2005. Others like Spotify followed. But Napster showed that consumers were tired of high priced CD's and were willing to find their music cheaper elsewhere. The Record biz dragged their feet. Blamed consumers but eventually found their way into the streaming world.
I should also point out that unlike some people who used Napster to download everything and anything, I continued to buy albums in those years This was a problem, though. Even though the Now series of compiling the latest hits on a compilation had finally hit the U.S. in 1998, before that record companies stopped releasing singles. Now was an eye-opener. Suddenly I didn't need to buy full albums to get a couple of good songs. I could wait for another volume. Also, Itunes wouldn't premiere until early 2001. All in all, consumers were tired of buying albums when they only one song.
Then came the Ipod in October 2001. Integrated with Itunes and the consumer was finally in command. No longer did you have to purchase CD's for $15+ when you could get that one track you only wanted.
But my buying habits have always been different than most. Throughout the Napster/Itunes birth, I was still buying CD's. But more carefully. One couldn't deny the rise of Amazon how buyers spent their money. Comparison shopping became key for me. And this is where the end was near for Borders, Tower Records, Circuit City and many other record store chains. How often did I go into Borders to check out the price of a CD and then go online to see what Amazon or a used retailer was selling it? All the time. And to the point where I rarely bought anything at the big box stores anymore.
Napster started the firestorm. Artists got ticked because people were stealing their songs. Then along comes Lars & Metallica suing Napster in 2000, and a year later the file-sharing giant is dead. It didn't stop people from downloading. They went elsewhere and the RIAA continued to threaten the most extreme abusers. But the RIAA still couldn't figure out that the problem lay in one thing: price.
The roots of Napster are still being played out today. Streaming services like Spotify, which offer and all-you-want deal are still a problem for some artists. Minuscule streaming royalty statements have made some acts rebel against Spotify, but not for long. Most big name artists are streaming. They have little choice. You would think that in 2024 everything would be available to stream. Nope, hat's not the case. Many of the songs I downloaded off Napster are still not available on Spotify. But you can find all of them on YouTube.
I still buy Now volumes, still stream and still buy albums, but not like I did before. Yet, while I'm sympathetic to artists who want a fair payday for their recordings, I have little sympathy for the record companies. Album sales are never coming back to pre-Napster era times. Occasionally, an artist like Taylor Swift will come around and defy those odds. But she's a once in a generation name.
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