Napster Urges CD Buying Spree

In an apparent attempt to show that its beleaguered file-sharing software has a positive - rather than pernicious - effect on music sales, Napster Inc. is urging all of its users to participate in a two-day CD-buying spree it dubs the "Napster Buy-cott Weekend." The "Buy-cott" was in response to the recent court injunction, which demanded that Napster stop allowing its users to share files.

Meanwhile, the 9th Circuit Court has granted Napster a stay of its injunction against the company, which will allow Napster to continue operating while its appeal of the injunction is pending. The "Buy-cott Weekend" will go ahead as planned, despite the stay.

"We believe that file-sharing among music fans helps to create a largercommunity of passionate music lovers, which allows the industry to sell even more music to fans," said Shawn Fanning, creator of the file-sharing software. "To prove just how much our users love music - and to show the buying power of such a large group of music fans - we are asking all of our users to join us this weekend for a Napster Buy-cott Weekend. We are asking that each and every Napster user walk in - or log in - to their favorite record store and buy a CD by an artist they love."

Napster is asking its users to make a special commitment to artists who have had the courage to embrace file sharing despite record companyopposition. Napster will publish (and continually update) on its Web site a list of artists who speak out in support of Napster.

"We know that many, many people in the music industry - artists, labels, and music industry professionals - understand the benefits of file sharing in promoting music," said Hank Barry, CEO of Napster. "We feel confident that when all of this is over, the overwhelming consensus among artists, the industry and the fans will be that file sharing is a great new way for us to all enjoy more music, and that all of us will benefit from this."

Napster is also asking its users to fax and email the heads of the major record companies, telling them that Napster users are their best customers - that they are loyal and active music fans - and asking them to not kill Napster.

At the same time, many of Napster's 20 million users are switching to "peer-to-peer" file sharing networks like Gnutella and FreeNet, according to TeamCom, a new media publishing company that has published The MP3 and Internet Audio Handbook, by authors Bruce and Marty Fries.

Unlike Napster, these networks are not owned by anyone and have no central server, so there is no company to sue and no main site that can be shut down. The only way to shut down a "peer-to-peer" network is to go after individual users, which could prove prohibitively expensive.

"Napster was a great way for me to sample new music by major artists and to explore new music genres," says author Fries. "With Napster, I've been able to sample music that wasn't played on the local radio stations. I've purchased CDs from well-known artists and from artists that I wouldn't have known about otherwise. Now that the court has ruled against Napster, I plan to use Gnutella."

Though the courts and the record companies insist otherwise, some people are saying that file sharing services are here to stay and thatthe record labels are making a mistake by not embracing the technology and finding ways to profit from it and pay royalties to the artists andsongwriters.