What Is Napster?

The music industry is constantly changing and adapting to new technologies and consumer behavior. Since the creation of Napster, the recording industry and its traditional business model have gone through a restructuring process. Because of the Internet, music has become more accessible and there isn’t a complete reliance on record labels but instead a direct artist-to-fan platform. Before 1999, the traditional business model was the platform for the music industry. This traditional business model consisted of an artist creating music and trying to be signed by a record label. Once the artist is signed, the organization provides a number of services which include but is not limited to financing music recording and production, organizing

This peer-to-peer file sharing, or P2P, was an automated way to copy copyrighted material (Tyson). The creation and increased usage of Napster resulted in a crisis for the industry because neither the record labels nor the artists were getting any money in return. Although Napster lost in lawsuits against them for breaking copyright laws, labels weren’t able to stop this type of piracy and sure enough, new similar software platforms were created. Some P2P file sharing sites that are popular now include BitTorrent, uTorrent, and The Pirate Bay. P2P sharing changed the way the music could be shared and the traditional business model was no longer dominant in the music industry because of

The downsizing and disappearance of retail music stores was a major one. CDs become widely available in large department stores rather than large chain and independent music stores, which had virtually disappeared throughout the country. This resulted in an increase in digital music sales and music downloading, both legally and illegally. Besides P2P sharing platforms, which for the most part have been illegal, digital music stores also began to dominate the music industry. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) defines digital music as “music downloaded over the Internet for a fee, music downloaded from subscription sites, and music downloaded to cellular phones and other mobile devices.” Some popular digital music stores include Apple’s iTunes, eMusic, Amazon MP3, and Rhapsody. Because of these digital music stores and the Internet, artists no longer have to rely on record labels, but can distribute music independently and reach audiences that weren’t reachable