“The music industry’s spokespeople will no doubt crow in triumph
at their Wednesday victory over Napster in federal court, where
they persuaded a judge to issue a preliminary injunction
essentially forcing Napster to shut down. But in felling Napster,
the industry is digging an even deeper grave for itself.”
“The record labels’ only hope was to lose this court battle.
Now that they’ve won, they’ve really lost.“
“To understand this paradox, you’ll need to ponder with me the
implications of a front-page article in the Wall Street Journal
Wednesday. “When Its Own Artists Are Involved,” the headline
declared, “Napster is No Fan of Sharing.” The story tried to tar
Napster as a hypocritical company — for on the one hand promoting
the free-for-all sharing of music files online but on the other
resorting to old-fashioned corporate bullying when it comes to
protecting its own copyrights and software code.”