The Legal Issue with Napster and the Music Industry Essay

The Legal Issue with Napster and the Music Industry The issues that will be slugged out in federal district court in San Francisco sound a little too pop culture to be all that serious. How many music CDs are people buying these days in record stores throughout the nation because of Napster? Is the technology that Napster uses legal? Napster is, of course, the wildly popular file-sharing service whose 20 million users have downloaded some half a billion songs--most copyrighted for free. The technology that Napster has brought to music listeners across the globe has allowed the freedom of obtaining music for free and should not be shut down by the entertainment industrys argument in federal court. The laws that support a†¦show more content†¦Basically theses two acts state that Napster is neither liable for its users actions and allows its users to record music (using Napster) for their private use. These are major laws that help support Napster and digital recording efforts. Many artists themselves are pro-Napster in many aspects of what they think it brings society. Napster allows for individuals to hear and experience different forms of music; therefore purchasing and promoting artists work. Some artists argue that it allows the public to be attentive to music that artists are putting out on the market. Fred Durst from Limp Bizkit said, We believe that the Internet and Napster should not be ignored by the music industry as tools to promote awareness for bands and market music (Napster 1). Fred Durst was describing how the music industry needs to recognize Napster as a type of advertisement of their product. Madonna was also quoted saying; Napster could be a great way for people to hear your music who wouldnt have the chance to hear it on the radio (Napster 1). This quote from Madonna helps to describe how people are enabled to hear music from different artists through Napster allowing artists to be heard and be recognized by the public. 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