Musicians are furious that new tech has gutted their income. Record labels are wary, yet eager to cut deals with ascendant platforms. Fans are delighted to access songs for a pittance, even as they’re screwing over beloved artists.
The fears about today’s streaming economy echo the existential panic when Napster debuted in 1999. The peer-to-peer service — where fans swapped catalogs of MP3 song files — walloped the record business. It helped demolish billions in label revenue, forcing a sclerotic industry to re-assess its entire model.
It scrambled loyalties among fans, artists, tech companies and record labels. But beyond its effect on music, Napster also heralded a troubling new ethic in tech: make yourself ubiquitous before the law can stop you. “Years later, Napster is still an exemplar and inspiration in Silicon Valley,” said Joseph Menn, the author of “All The Rave,” the definitive history of Napster (and a former Times reporter now at the Washington Post).
“Uber and Airbnb took the same approach — blow away taxi and hotel regulations to give people something they want and grow so big you eventually get politicians on your side. Napster created this whole wave of antihero entrepreneurs.” When Northeastern University undergrad Shawn Fanning and business partner Sean Parker launched Napster on June 1, 1999, music was still largely consumed via compact disc, which labels sold at hefty profits.
Fans had ways to trade songs, from taping off the radio to.